Nulla Gratia
by Nik0laiCarpathia
Summary: There is more to the human world than we can see. There are monsters hidden throughout nature, waiting for their chance. United under the Overlord's banner, these races will remind humanity why it once feared the dark. Minions are the least of these. UP FOR ADOPTION
1. Cast Out

**Ch. 1 : Cast Out**

_A/N : Hey everyone, Nikolai here with another idea that has been brewing for some time now. I'll keep this note short, this time. Fictional Revisionism – __the retelling of a story with substantial alterations in character or environment._

_I _will_ be changing vital canon events in this, and things will change. If you read this expecting the canon story line to the letter, you might as well stop now._

Disclaimer : I do not own Naruto, Overlord, or any obscure references to other owned or written material, either official or those of fandom. They are all property of associated parties.

* * *

"Eighty-seven degrees my ass!"

A young teenager scowled to himself as he readjusted his unbuttoned shirt to allow for the scant breeze to cool him down. A few people along the semi-crowded street turned to see who was cursing such fine weather, only to smile as they saw the son of their oh-so-beloved Hokage.

"Well hey there, Naruto-san!"

Naruto nodded in the general direction of the speaker without bothering to identify them. He knew they were just trying to be polite and friendly, but the hot weather wasn't doing his temperament any favors. Even if he hadn't been ordered to report to the Hokage's Tower on one of his few days of down time, he still would have been irritated. Add that to the blazing heat and his favorite restaurant being closed for the day and you had a recipe for disaster.

"Oi, Naruto!"

The fifteen year old spun on his heel, about to blow up in someone's face. His shout of exasperation died in his throat when the man turned out to be one of the few people in the village whose presence he could stand. Partly because he was his academy instructor, but mostly because he was practically the only person who wouldn't hesitate to beat some sense into him. The dolphin was not one to walk on eggshells because of titles.

"Good afternoon, Iruka-sensei."

Naruto honestly wanted to stay pissed off, but the man's damned smile always made it hard. Whenever he saw him, Iruka was grinning like he had just won the lottery or something.

"Dang Naruto, you sound like you were born on the wrong side of the Kyuubi. What have I told you about calling me that? This ain't the Academy, so relax some."

The boy rolled his eyes, but his scowl diminished visibly.

"Only you would joke about that, Sensei. So how can I help you?"

The Chunin, only a few years his senior, laughed and clapped him on the shoulder. He fell into step beside the boy easily and slid his hands into his pockets.

"You wouldn't think I cared if I didn't. So anyway, what are you doing this far into the business district? I thought you said you hated all the crowds. Weird place to be spending a day off."

"_Hokage-sama_ sent me a message that I was to come see him. Apparently he has something important he wants to talk to me about because he didn't give me any more details than that."

Iruka frowned softly at the flippant tone the boy had taken about the strongest man, or women, in the village.

"You know you really shouldn't be as hard on him as you are. He cares about you a lot, you know that."

Naruto barked a short, mocking laugh.

"He doesn't care for me any more than he does for any other villager. You know that."

"Of course he does! You're his son for crying out loud, why wouldn't he care for you?"

The blond just rolled his eyes at his older charge. The man's heart was definitely in the right place, but he was just a touch too naive sometimes. Sure the Yondaime Hokage was his father, but ever since the incident with the fox a decade and a half ago, he had never quite been the same. At least, from what he had been told.

He had never known his father before the Kyuubi had decided to break from the seal of the last Jinchuuriki, but apparently he had once been much different. Instead of the serious and somewhat cool man he was now, he used to be a veritable ball of energy. Always laughing and fun to be around, great with people and even better with kids, he sounded great. Turns out the stress of ruling over the single biggest Shinobi Village in the Elemental Countries can take its toll on a guy.

Oh sure he had his shining moments. About seven years ago his father had given him the best birthday of his life. Every October 10th a festival was held in honor of the people who had given everything to save the village from the Kyuubi, and he had been made the guest of honor. Everyone who had fought in that battle and survived were heralded as heroes of untold caliber, and the sounds of partying could be heard from every corner of Konoha. It was great, and it had definitely been the best day of his life.

That had been the last time he and his father had spent any time together as father and son. After that he had been too busy taking care of the village and various threats of war from all over the world. It wasn't that Naruto held it against him, he had started the Academy that year and had to focus on his training anyway, it just sucked that his father acted more like his boss.

"Because he can't afford favoritism. Isn't that one of the things you taught in your class? That the Hokage must put the well being of the village before anything, including himself? I understand, and I've gotten over it. I'm just saying, he's the Yondaime Hokage, _then_ he's Minato Namikaze. That's something he's made clear plenty of times. It doesn't bother me any more. Now can we just enjoy the blazing heat? I want to be able to focus on my splitting headache."

Iruka glanced down at the boy and chuckled sadly. The kid had really gotten the short end of the stick, all things considered.

"You know, I think it bugs you more than you want to admit."

The glare he got for a response made him decide that that was enough. Naruto was known to have a little bit of a temper when prodded enough and he didn't feel like getting into a fist-fight with the kid in the middle of the street. Sure he could wipe the floor with the kid eleven out of ten times, but that didn't mean it was a good idea to smack around the 'honorable-son' in plain view of the public. He'd probably get lynched!

"Anyway, it can't be all that bad. I mean come on, you've got pretty much the whole village eating out of the palm of your hand. Any one of these people would trip over themselves to have the honor of 'serving the son of our village's greatest hero'."

This time Naruto wasn't the only one to roll his eyes in disgust.

"You'd think it would be a good thing, but it really isn't. What's the point of being able to do things if you don't have to work for them? Discounts at stores, free gifts, hell there are some people who would even be more than willing to hand over some of their greatest techniques just because I asked them to."

Iruka cocked an eyebrow at his student's words. No matter how many times he heard it from him, it never ceased to amaze.

"You honestly hate the way they treat you, don't you?"

"Of course I do! Any sane person would. I want to get stronger, and that's not going to happen when everyone tries to give me everything they think I want. Only in strength is there survival, and only in strength can one strive. Conflict breeds strength, and I'm not going to get stronger if I don't have to fight anyone over it."

"That's a pretty twisted ideology you've got there. Do you really believe that?"

The look he gave Iruka made him almost regret asking, and he was glad to have the distraction that was provided an instant later.

"Sneak attack!"

Iruka spun around to face the new intruder, but only caught a large blur speed past him. A blur with black hair tied back into a long ponytail and glaringly bright teeth. The faceless assassin was knocked to the ground by an instinctive elbow strike, courtesy of the blond.

"Dammit Lee, it's not a sneak attack if you yell about it first!"

Said boy was currently on the ground cradling his abdomen, though the grin never left his face.

"Ex...excellent point, Narut-...o-kun. Whew, right in the stomach. That was a great strike there, beautiful deflection and counterattack. Uh, does anyone see my spleen?"

Iruka laughed at his second problem student's antics and helped him to his feet while the boy brushed dirt off of himself.

"You okay, Lee? That looked like it hurt..."

Rock Lee stood proud and winked confidently.

"Yes, Iruka-sensei! I've had worse in training all the time so this is no problem"

"Yeah, Sensei. It would take more than a elbow to the floating rib to stop Lee here."

The dark haired youth looked at Naruto, eyes wide.

"You mean _that's_ where you were aiming! It's a good thing my digestive organs took the brunt of the damage or that would have hurt."

Iruka could only rub his face. Even when they weren't at the Academy, these two nutcases could still cause him a headache.

"So, Naruto-kun! What brings you this far into our most glorious city streets? Are you perhaps taking a stroll to enjoy the perfect weather? Maybe to get a breath of fresh air? Or..."

"Lee?"

"Yes, Naruto-kun?"

"You're an idiot."

Iruka couldn't help it. The look on Lee's face was absolutely priceless, and he had to support himself on a light-pole to stop from collapsing in fits of laughter. Over the last year, Iruka had had the distinct pleasure to watch Naruto and Lee both break from their usual solitary personalities and form the friendship they now had... Okay, so maybe it wasn't a _perfect_ friendship, but at least it was something. Any relationship that started off with a haymaker to the jaw was sure to be a little... eccentric.

At first Iruka had really been saddened to know that Rock Lee had failed the Genin Exam and sent back a year for remedial training, but as fate would have it it turned out to be the best thing that could possibly have happened for the boy. Being sent back a year put him in the same class as Naruto, who was quick to knock some well-needed sense into the boy. Though it was all too possible that he knocked something loose as well.

When Lee's kicked-puppy look stopped bringing tears of laughter to his eyes, Iruka straightened himself out and slapped the older boy on the back.

"Naruto here has been called up to the Hokage's Office. Something important, apparently so it's probably not a good idea for us to be wasting time like this. Come on, we shouldn't keep the Hokage waiting."

"We? The hell do you mean we? Since when were you guys invited?"

Iruka just grinned in response and nodded to Lee. Naruto knew as soon as he saw that grin that he shouldn't look, but his eyes betrayed him, as always. With the slowness of a man turning to face a nightmare he looked to the last one of their trio.

Sure enough, Lee had the sorriest look imaginable. Eyebrows indented just enough to display just the right amount of betrayal, jaws locked to feign blocking a frown. The bastard was good at what he did. Naruto was pretty sure that if he had a heart, it would have broken.

But, since he didn't the only thing that bothered him was the fact that his best friend in Konoha was pulling that face at him in broad public. Where a significant number of people had stopped walking to stare at the dark haired lad.

"You... you don't want us to come? It's okay if you don't want to, but I just figured..."

Knowing what was coming, Naruto decided that it was best if he just got the inevitable over with. With a heavy sigh he just rubbed his eyes. The snickering from behind him didn't make it any easier and for a second he wondered if his public status would let him get away with decking his teacher in the street.

"Fine, you can come. Just try to keep it down, alright? I have a feeling that this is pretty serious."

Lee nodded happily, all traces of sadness vanishing instantly. Iruka similarly seemed to regain his self-control and was back to his casually optimistic self.

"Well? Are we going to go or not?"

Naruto glared at the closest thing to a brother he had ever had, though he couldn't conjure any malice to go with it. Those two had a bad habit of sucking the bad mood out of him.

"Yeah, come on let's get this over with."

No sooner had he said those words, but he heard yet another voice calling out to him.

"Oh hey, Naruto-kun! And look whose with you! Is my little Naru spending time with his friends at last?"

Naruto closed his eyes and leaned his head back, cursing whatever deity had decided to screw with him today. He didn't even need to look at the voice to identify it. There was only one person who would call him something like that.

"Anko-san, I didn't see you sitting there."

The only warning he had of the kunai thrown at him was past experience, and even that wasn't enough to help him dodge it. The cold steel slit the skin on his cheek easily and Naruto flinched at the pain.

While the boy wasn't going to say anything to the woman, Iruka had no such inhibitions. Over the years she had been popping up around Naruto more and more, and every time she appeared she would toss a kunai at him and draw blood.

"Why do you insist on doing that every time you see him? Or better yet, why do you even lick it in the first place?"

The snake mistress gave Iruka a sultry smile and circled around him, hugging his back and draping her arms over his shoulders.

"But Iru-kun! Blood is just so tasty, sorta like dango, only metal-ier."

She pressed herself tightly against him, and Iruka felt his face grow hot as soft flesh was squeezed against his back.

"In fact, I wonder what yours tastes like..."

While Naruto was enjoying how flustered his teacher was getting at the sudden contact, that shade of red probably wasn't healthy.

"Anko-san, let go of Iruka before his ears start bleeding. Not everyone can put up with your affections like I can."

The young woman pouted as she let go of Iruka, leaving the man to gape like a fish as he tried to come to terms with what had just happened.

"But he's just so... so... innocent!"

"I know, which is why I don't want you corrupting him. Now if you will excuse us, we have somewhere we need to be."

Anko perked up at that, and she retrieved her half-finished plate of her favorite dish from the stand she had been occupying before her distraction.

"Oh really? And what could _possibly_ be so important as to drag the mighty _Naruto-san_ from his day of rest?"

Naruto leaned against a light pole and crossed his arms, a light scowl returning.

"Hokage-sama called for me to come see him in his office. Whatever it is, its important. Lee and Iruka-sensei just happened to meet up with me on my way there, so I invited them to come along."

Anko tapped her bottom lip with a dango skewer and looked up thoughtfully.

"The Hokage, huh? Well it would be best not to keep him waiting then."

Naruto nodded and turned from her. Iruka and Lee both joined up at his side, with Lee carrying a box of dango.

"Hey, wait a second!"

Naruto glanced over his shoulder at the woman and was a little worried at her grin, though he would die before ever admitting something like that.

"Aren't you going to invite me to come as well?"

"Would you stay if I said no?"

"No, not really."

He sighed and turned from her again, picking up his pace to the Tower without looking back.

"Well come on then."

Anko beamed happily at the declaration and threw away the now depleted box of dango skewers, keeping one for herself. Out of the corner of his eye, Naruto thought he might have seen Iruka glowering at him. He obviously still had mixed feelings about the temptress.

Lee meanwhile, was having a hard time trying to protect his lunch from the ravenous grasp of Anko, who was trying to steal it from him.

**XxXxXxX**

**- Hokage's Office : Naruto & Crew -**

While far from peaceful, thanks to his entourage, the remainder of the trip to the Hokage Tower was uneventful and passed quickly. The cool air of the interior was a blessed relief from the heat, and Naruto slowed his pace somewhat to enjoy it before checking in with the receptionist manning the desk.

"Good afternoon, how can I help you? Oh, Naruto-san! How you're running a little late, aren't you? Hokage-sama called for you at least half an hour ago."

"Hey Yuki. Yeah, some things came up and I was... slowed down."

Lee had made a face of protest, but Naruto cut him off. The older boy huffed and shoved his hands in his pockets, scuffing his shoe against the polished floor. The young receptionist giggled at the boy's antics, and Lee grinned at the attention. Especially from the cute brunette.

"Well he is still waiting for you, so I suggest you go up and see him immediately. He was in kind of a bad mood earlier, so you might want to be careful how you talk to him."

Naruto nodded gratefully and shot a glance to those following him.

"Alright you guys, I'll be back soon so don't get into any trouble."

"Uhm, actually Naruto-san. The Hokage requested that if you had anyone with you when you arrived, that they were to follow you."

The blond frowned at that. What would his father want with the people accompanying him? He had never really shown any interest in his relationships with people. At least, not since his second year in the academy.

"Did he say why?"

The receptionist shook her head, the brown curls falling on her shoulders and mesmerizing Lee.

"Nope, and I didn't ask either. Like I said, he was in a sort of bad mood. Maybe its bad news?"

Naruto shrugged and started making his way up the flights of stairs leading to the Hokage's Office.

"I guess I'll find out when I get there. C'mon Lee."

Iruka and Anko had both followed when he had moved, but Lee had still been admiring Yuki.

"Hm? What? Oh, right..."

Naruto shook his head, and both the older two laughed when Lee took a deep breath and pushed his chest out a little bit, obviously showing off for Yuki. When the door swung shut behind him, he let out the breath he had been holding and turned to smile at Naruto, obviously embarrassed.

"What?"

It only took a few minutes to reach the top floor, and Naruto rapped on the door sharply. There were sounds of ruffling papers and a low sigh before they were ushered through.

"Good Afternoon, Hokage-sama."

"Trust me when I say there's nothing good about it. I see you brought a few people with you, excellent. It's warming to see you again, Iruka-kun. Still spending time with my hellion of a son, eh?"

The teacher bowed respectfully.

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

The Fourth laughed kindly, though it was a little strained.

"Good, good. And I see young Lee is with you as well. I understand you and Naruto have become quite good friends."

Lee bowed as well.

"That's right, Hokage-sama. He is my best friend!"

The man nodded again, turning to see the final member of the small group now crowding his office.

"Now this _is_ a surprise. Who would have guessed Konoha's own Snake Mistress would be tagging along after Naruto? Or are you here with someone else, maybe?"

Anko bit down on a dango skewer and turned to the side to avoid making eye contact with the Hokage. She refused to answer the question, though she was still blushing faintly.

Naruto saw her predicament and decided to rescue her from it. Not that he cared, it was just always good to be on the good side of someone like Mitarashi Anko.

"If you're done examining my friends, would you mind telling me what you called me for? I have some things to attend to, and I don't intend to spend all day here."

"Naruto! How many times do I have to tell you to show respect to the Hokage?"

The Fourth just held up a hand to silence the Chunin, and sighed heavily. His smile fell and his eyes grew serious.

"Very well, if you want to get directly to business, we shall. It has come to Konoha's attention that there is a group of rather powerful S-rank Missing-nin who are traveling among the countries gaining power and gathering as much information on the Jinchuuriki as they can."

"You mean the containers for the tailed beasts? What does that have to do with Konoha? We don't have any Jinchuuriki."

"No, we don't. And anyone who lives here knows that. The problem is, they don't. Konoha was the last village the Kyuubi attacked, and now it's gone. There's only one reasonable explanation, and that is that we sealed it. Somehow, this group has managed to get the information that you were present during the sealing procedure, and they are now targeting you."

The gathered Shinobi had a bad feeling about where this was going, though Naruto and Anko also had a bit of hope along with it.

"We both know that you don't contain the Kyuubi, but they will never be content that this is the truth until they see you for themselves. They will stop at nothing to accomplish their goals, and it pains me that you have been thrown into their path like this, but there is nothing I can do. As the Hokage of Konohagakure, I am called upon to make harsh decisions."

He stood up, his white and orange trench coat hanging disappearing under the desk. He turned his back and looked out the window in the direction of Konoha. Everyone noticed that he wasn't making eye contact with Naruto any more.

"They will come looking for you, Naruto. And when they get here, they will attack anyone who gets in their way between them and you. I cannot put my village at a risk such as this. I am sorry, my son, but I must ask you to leave Konohagakure."

Iruka and Lee gasped in horror, but Naruto only steeled his features. Despite that though, a hint of malice lingered.

"Am I being... banished?

The Fourth shook his head quickly.

"No! Of course not. Konoha is your home, and I would never banish you. I just have to ask you to stay away from here for now, until it is safe for you to return."

It was too late for damage control though, the damage had been done and Naruto sneered.

"Safe for me, or for the village?"

The Hokage turned around, regret clear as day.

"You have to understand my position! There are thousands of people in the village! If we were to be attacked by some of these men, the casualties would be..."

"Oh I understand, you can rest assured of that. I understand that in a choice between the village and myself, you chose the village. When do I leave?"

Minato sighed and dropped into his chair heavily.

"The council has agreed that you must be gone by midnight. Tonight. You have time to gather your supplies, and then you must leave."

Iruka stepped forward and slammed his fist down on the desk, startling them.

"Surely you don't mean to send Naruto outside the walls of the village alone!"

"Of course not. There was a reason I requested the three of you to be here with Naruto. You all seem to have some connection with Naruto, and no connections with Konoha as a whole. I offer you the chance to accompany Naruto when he leaves. As I said, this is not an exile, nor are you fleeing the village. You will not be marked as enemies of Konoha and no Missing-nin shall be sent after you."

Anko's eyes glittered at the words, and she stood up from her seat on the couch, skewer in her hand and forgotten.

"You mean I have the chance to leave the village? Without being on a mission and all? And all I have to do is travel with _Naruto-kun_?"

"Yes, that's right."

She grinned and saluted.

"Hell yeah! I'm in!"

Likewise, Lee leaped forward and saluted, standing as straight as he possibly could.

"What kind of friend would I be if I left Naruto to the wilderness? A bad one! I will accompany Naruto-kun and the Crazy Snake Lady and I will protect them with my dying breath!"

Iruka could only groan at they enthusiasm of the pair, and rubbed his face while Anko was doing her best to impale Lee. For a moment he was silent before he seemed to come to a decision. He layed a hand on Naruto's shoulder and smiled kindly.

"Well I can't very well leave him out there on his own with only Anko and Lee as company. I will follow them as well."

"It's good to know that Naruto has such good friends as all of you. It will be good for him to have support through this. I couldn't think of any group I would rather have protect him."

Naruto seemed to have reached some kind of limit.

"Wait wait wait. Why are you all jumping at the chance to leave the village? You don't even know where we are going to go, what we are going to do. Konoha is secure and you can all be comfortable there. So why do you all want to give that up?

Lee struck his awkward pose, hands in his pockets and scuffing the floor again.

"I don't have anywhere else to be. You are my only friend and there isn't really a whole lot I will be able to do in Konoha. If you are leaving, I am going with you."

Iruka smiled and rubbed Naruto's head.

"I know for a fact that you won't be able to make it all on your lonesome out there. I'm going to tag along to make sure you don't pick a fight with anything meaner than yourself. Besides, if both you _and_ Lee leave at the same time, I'll be stuck with the rest of the class with no distractions. Urgh."

The Chunin shuddered, and Lee laughed in agreement. Anko meanwhile had gone back to chewing on her skewer and refused to answer again.

"I have my reasons. Right now? You don't get to know. Just know that I'm coming with you whether you want me to or not, and I'll be able to help Iruka keep you safe. Besides..."

With a flash of movement the snake mistress disappeared and reappeared directly behind Iruka, caressing the man's stomach.

"With you gone, I'll be lonely."

Her last words were barely a whisper, and Iruka's face grew red again almost instantly. The woman's trench coat had flared open and settled against Iruka's sides, leaving nothing but a shirt and vest on Iruka's side, and mesh on Anko's between their bodies. This was a fact that Iruka was _well_ aware of, judging by his nervous stammering.

The moment ended quickly though, and Anko laughed before she stepped back, letting the coat take its usual place.

"Plus it would be dead boring if I wasn't able to tease you, wouldn't it?"

The Fourth cleared his throat, drawing the attention of the room back to him, and away from the indecent displays of... affection?... going on in his office.

"Yes, well. Whatever your reasons, I am glad that you are willing to go. I would rather none of you have to leave in the first place, but the circumstances seem to have conspired against that."

When Naruto didn't respond to that, the Hokage stopped trying to lighten the mood, and instead got back to business.

"Now, I would suggest you three go begin preparing for your trip. You leave toning at midnight. I have something I need to show Naruto before he leaves that is not for your eyes at the moment. Afterward it will be at his discretion to show it to you or not, but right now it is mine."

Anko, Lee, and Iruka all bowed to the Hokage before making their way out the door. Well, Lee used the door. Iruka disappeared in a swirl of leaves courtesy of the shunshin, and Anko... Anko jumped out the window. When everyone else was gone, Minato stood up again and put a hand on his son's shoulder.

"I had originally planned not to give you this until you were older, but it seems like it might benefit you more now than it would myself. In our family, there is an artifact. The stories of it are few and far between, but they each share recurring details. It once belonged to a extremely powerful man. It is an object of great power, should the right person finally access it, and it has a name."

"And what is the name of this artifact?"

Minato walked past Naruto toward the door, leading him downstairs toward the vault under the Hokage's Tower. Their trip was made in silence, but his question was answered just before the Fourth opened the door leading into the treasury.

"According to the legends, it is called the Tower Heart."

With a wordless technique, the Fourth unlocked the door and it swung open. The room was filled with shelves bearing mountains of dusty tomes and scrolls, and various statues, vases, and other assorted junk that probably held some kind of value to someone at one point.

Toward the back of the room, in the middle of the back wall and surrounded by bookcases it rested. Easily five feet in diameter, the object was a perfect sphere and covered in dust. The inside was colored a dull blue with bare swirls of gray and white. Though it was motionless, there almost seemed to be a faint hum coming from it that couldn't be heard, only felt.

"This Tower Heart has been passed down our family for generations. I was never told exactly what it was, or what we were guarding it from. According to my father, neither did my grandfather, apparently. All we were told was to keep it safe and that if the wrong person was to get their hands on it, terrible things would happen. Still, it's always been kind of a good luck charm for our family, and since you are leaving, I think it is for the best for you to keep it. It will give you a reason to... to come home."

Naruto wasn't sure what to say to that. His strengths lay in combat and rationality, not emotions. But though he wasn't skilled at showing emotion, he knew what his father was doing. In his own way, Minato was trying to tell his son to be safe and return to him one day. Despite the sincerity though, Naruto didn't feel any specific inclination to help his father. In the end, he was still throwing him to the wolves, and it was possible he would never forgive him for that.

As soon as the thought had ran through his mind, he felt the humming from the Tower Heart grow into a buzz, and he turned to look at it. There, in the center of the orb the colors had shifted. When before they had been dull and stationary, they seemed to be spinning now, and brightening in intensity. Amazed at what he was seeing, he turned to his father to ensure that he wasn't imagining it, but the Fourth Hokage was no longer standing there. No, that wasn't quite right. The entire _room_ wasn't there. The bookcases, the statues, even the walls had just... disappeared. All that remained was the floor, now a bright but plain white, the Tower Heart which was now glowing brightly and still buzzing with power, and a... creature.

"Ahh, so there _is_ one among you who is worthy. But what is this? A boy? Interesting..."

The creature stood no taller than his stomach, and was hunched over with a strange lamp attached to its back and hanging over its head. A thick cloak of an unfamiliar material hung from his thin shoulders, and his skin was a dark gray color.

"What are you? What have you done to me?"

While not afraid of the little creature, Naruto was no fool. He was in a strange place with an even stranger being staring at him, and he wasn't about to be caught off guard. With steady movements he drew a blade from the pouch on his leg, and brought it to a defensive position without letting the other see it.

"Feisty, aren't you? And what do you plan on doing with that blade, hm? You are a long way from being able to harm me _here_, I assure you. And to answer your question, I haven't done anything to you. The Tower Heart seems to have sensed potential within you, and so it brought us both here."

"Potential? Potential for what?"

The little thing's face tightened, and it took Naruto a second to realize that it was smiling.

"Potential for Evil, of course."

Deciding that the little thing, whatever it was, wasn't a threat, Naruto went back to examining his surroundings to find a way out. His attempts were in vain. All that was around him was a blank white expanse for as far as the eye could see.

"You never answered my question. What are you?"

"A little rude, don't you think? Usually its customary to ask _who_ one is."

"Usually I'm not asking a non-human who they are. Now stop evading my question and answer it, before I start to get irritated."

The shriveled little being cackled to him/itself before looking at him strangely, as though seeing him for the first time.

"My name is Gnarl, and I am the Minion Master. As the title implies, I am in fact, a Minion."

"R-i-ight, and what is a Minion?"

Gnarl tapped his chin, thinking on how to explain what they were when they didn't specifically know themselves.

"Well, you see. Our first Master, the Overlord, created us to serve him. He was a powerful sorcerer and was able to bring us into being by manipulating pure Life Force. We live to serve the current Overlord... if there is one, of course."

By this point Naruto had given up on finding an exit and was listening to the Minion speak.

"And who is your Overlord? I've never heard of anyone calling himself that."

"Actually, we don't have one right now. Our last Overlord was killed a while ago by a particularly annoying group of Heroes and one of them stole the Tower Heart. In fact, this is the first time I've seen it in... well it's had to have been at least a couple hundred years."

Gnarl had hobbled over to the glowing blue orb and patted it lovingly, as though reunited with an old pet.

"You honestly expect me to believe that you are a couple hundred years old?"

Gnarl glanced away from his loving attention to look at Naruto in surprise.

"A couple hundred? Good heavens no." Naruto nodded his head, agreeing. "I've been around much longer than that. It's been at least a couple hundred years since I had my last _haircut_, for Evil's sake."

"Alright, you know what? I quit. This is insane. I'm probably just lying in the hospital somewhere, being treated for a tumor or something."

Gnarl looked at him quizzically for a moment.

"A tumor?"

"Yeah."

"You think all this..." The aged Minion spread his arms wide, indicating the surrounding area. "Is a tumor?"

"It seems like the most reasonable explanation, so yeah."

"...and you say _I'm_ crazy?"

Naruto was known for many things. Being the son of the Fourth Hokage. Being on the list of 'Who-not-to-fuck-with' in Konoha. And most importantly, being the kid who _wasn't_ the container for the Kyuubi. Naruto the patient, he was not.

"No. You know what I think is crazy? Getting kidnapped by some kind of damn marble, standing in the single most boring place I've ever seen, and talking to something that looks like should be a bad-guy on a kid's puppet show. _That's_ what I think is crazy. Now you have three seconds to start explaining everything you know about why I'm here before I find out just how much pain a figment of my imagination can feel. You got me!"

For just a moment Naruto could have sworn that the gnarled old... Gnarl... what about to cry. And then he did. The short figure waddled over to him as fast as his little knobbly legs could carry him, and latched himself onto his right leg with a fierce bear hug.

"Oh Master, it's so g-good to finally be able to serve you! Its been so lo-long, we thought we had done something wr-wrong and offended the Tower Heart and then the other Tribes ran away and it was just the browns. And we've been searching and searching, but we just couldn't find the Tower's Heart, nor could we find someone who felt right to serve. But now I found you, and you have the Heart, and everything's going to be okay!"

Naruto could honestly say he had no idea what was going on. First the thing was acting like he didn't even exist. Then he was talking like Naruto was a moron, and now he was hugging his legs and bawling like a kid who was finally found after being lost in a marketplace. Being the compassionate and caring person that he was, Naruto looked down at the crying figure, and did his best to comfort him.

"Get the hell off of me before I punt you across the room."

Gnarl complied immediately and sniffled once before wiping his nose on his arm, and his arm on his cloak.

"Sorry about that, Master. It's just been centuries since I was able to serve someone. We Minions aren't meant to be independent you see. We were created to serve, we live to serve, and it is our every dream that we each die serving. Being with no leader for so long is just... wrong."

"Uh, don't worry about it... I guess. Now if you are done crying, why don't you help me get out of here? I'm in the middle of something, or I _was_, and people are going to wonder about where I am."

Gnarl nodded happily and hobbled back over to the Tower Heart with a noticeable spring in his step.

"Of course, right away Master. Though I don't think you will have to worry about people noticing your absence. You weren't actually gone, after all. Now, when you get back don't act surprised and don't tell anyone about what happened here, okay? Just do your best to get the Heart away from whatever _hell_ it's been imprisoned in, and I will come find you."

Naruto glared at Gnarl heatedly while the Minion laid his hands on the orb and closed his eyes, muttering something under his breath.

"Wait, you mean you have the ability to send me back whenever you want to?"

"Well yeah, me and the Tower Heart are tight, after all. Now, hold on tight and keep your arms and legs inside the warp at all times. Remember, don't say anything about what happened here and most importantly. Save the Heart!"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"You mean you plan on staying away from Konoha forever?"

Naruto spun on his heel when he heard the voice behind him, and was shocked to see his father there.

"What? Oh, I mean... right. Of course I will come home at some point, I guess."

The Hokage didn't seem totally pleased with his answer, but resigned himself to it. His son was a strange one after all, and sometimes you just had to be happy with what you got.

"Well like I was saying. I have a feeling that you are meant to be the one to hold onto this thing, not me. It would probably be best if you were to take it with you when you leave."

Before he could ask the obvious question of transport, the Fourth drew an empty sealing scroll from a pocket within his coat and draped it over the top of the Tower Heart, facing down. A quick handseal and a massive burst of smoke, and the Heart was gone. Now kept safely inside the unassuming scroll of parchment.

Minato picked the scroll up from the floor and rolled it up carefully.

"I don't know what you will find when you get outside Konoha, nor do I have any advice on what you should do. I guess your best bet would be to find somewhere safe to stay where the group can't find you. If you don't tell me or anyone else where you are going, it should be impossible for them to find you. In theory, at least."

With the shock of switching between the dusty chamber, the white place, and back again gone, Naruto was finally able to think straight.

"Right, of course. Thank you, Hokage-sama."

The Fourth smiled sadly at that, but handed the scroll to Naruto for him to take with him.

"Like I said, tell your companions whatever you want about the Tower Heart, but I would recommend not letting the information past that. I know you felt the power in that thing just like I did, and it would be best for it not to fall into the wrong hands. Good luck on your travels, I'm sorry there is nothing more I can do for you. Farewell, my son."

Naruto nodded again and turned his back on his father. He probably should have felt some kind of sadness, being ordered to leave the only home he had ever known, but he just didn't. It was a new experience, he would finally get the chance to grow at his own pace, unrestricted by the bumbling efforts of the damned village elders, and he would have the chance to find out more about the Tower Heart and the Minion Master. Assuming it had all been real of course. He still had a good feeling on the tumor thing.

* * *

A/N : Well there you have it. The first chapter of my first ever second fic!Yeah, I know. The excitement is over-whelming, right? Regardless, the inspiration for this came for not only the lack of any really good Naruto x Overlord crossovers, but also as a challenge to the author of the best one I have read up to date. That's right, 26-Lord-Pain, I challenge you to a match of 'Who-can-fit-the-most-random-crap-into-a-fanfiction'! No, I jest. Everything I work in will have it's own place (hopefully), and as always, I have big plans for this work. (I'm seriously challenging Lord Pain though.)

For everyone who has read my other story, 'A New Order', you know I have a tendency to write longer chapters. I will work on this, and cut down the chapter length this time round to appeal to a different crowd. I would love to hear opinions on this change, love it hate it, whatever.

With all that said, also note that I am not an author who cries out for Reviews. They are awesome, yes. I love them like I love a really good slice of pie, yes. But I'm not desperate and I have my dignity. Review if you feel compelled to, if not I'm just happy to have Hits.

Stay Frosty...

- Nikolai


	2. Remembering, Departing

**Ch. 2 : Remembering, Deparating**

_A/N : Well, that didn't take so long then, did it? I am proud to present, for your entertainment, Chapter two of 'Nulla Gratia'._

Disclaimer : I do not own Naruto, Overlord, or any obscure references to other owned or written material, either official or those of fandom. They are all property of associated parties.

* * *

**XxXxXxX**

**- Namikaze Residence : Naruto -**

It didn't take him very long at all to gather up what few items of value he had. His tools and weapons were already together in preparation for his training at the academy. His clothes were a bit harder to manage, but he eventually just threw a few of his favorites into a duffel bag and called it quits there. A few pairs of jeans and some black cargo's. A handful of black or crimson undershirts, and some button shirts to go over them. He barely owned anything of sentimental value and what he did wasn't worth carrying around with him, so he decided to leave them were they were.

The apartment was quite with only him inside, and it was somewhat unsettling. Especially now that it could no longer really be considered his home. Contrary to what many might have thought, his father had never felt compelled to own a large home. Not if he didn't have people to fill it, was his reasoning. Shortly after Naruto had been born, Minato had bought a comfortable apartment closer to the center of the village, so he could be within easy reach of his office.

Naruto scowled in disgust at the thought of living so close to the city, and slung his duffel over his shoulder. He was supposed to meet up with the others in half an hour. He wasn't sure what would happen if they were late leaving the village, but he wasn't particularly inclined to hang around and find out. He wanted to be gone before anyone woke up. No doubt he was going to hurt Teuchi and Ayame's feelings by leaving without saying goodbye, but he was never good with sentiment. He shook his head. No it was better this way.

He bid one last farewell to the building he had slept in for so many years before making his final exit. The set of keys that had been in his possession since he was old enough to leave the house on his own found a resting place on the table beside the door, and the boy locked it behind him as he stepped out into the brisk night air.

**XxXxXxX**

**- Run-down Apartment : Lee -**

Rock Lee could hardly contain his excitement as he bounced around his small home, collecting items here and there. He had wondered what it was like outside Konoha for his entire life, and now he had the chance to find out for himself!

He had expected to have left the walls on what should have been his first mission four years ago when he had finished the academy. His plans were set back when the Hokage had seen fit to extend the amount of training Shinobi had to go through in the academy. Earlier years were still focused on academic pursuits such as mathematics, deception, history, and the theory of tactics and such. The Hokage's intervention resulted in three more years being added to the time table, these focusing more on physical aptitude and fighting prowess. While the initial graduation age had been set at twelve, the new one was at fifteen. Sixteen for Lee himself, having been held back for remedial training.

Because of the changes, someone book smart could manage through the initial stage, but those without the stomach to do what had to be done were soon weeded out after that point had ended. There was speculation that the Fourth was trying to make an army of 'super-soldiers' from the next generation, but he insisted that he was simply trying to prevent unnecessary Genin casualties.

Ironically, Lee had had no problem with the old academy, and was managing to stay above failing, along with everyone else of his class, despite his unique handicap. After things were changed though, it got much more challenging. To the point that he had been sent back a year, landing him in Naruto's class.

He chuckled quietly to himself, the sound echoing in the empty apartment.

At first he had been full of hate. He had resented the shame of being placed in a class of those younger than him. He had resented the teachers that looked at him like he was a moron, or even worse, a cripple. But most of all he had been resentful of Naruto.

It seemed like all of his weaknesses and shortcomings had manifested themselves perfectly mirrored in the blond boy. Naruto had been born into a powerful family while Lee had no family to call his own. Naruto had a natural capacity for Chakra and could fuel techniques that would tire other students for much longer. Lee couldn't even feel his. Naruto was loved by _everyone_. Lee? He could fall off the end of the earth, and no one would even notice he was gone.

And yet, the blond was nothing like he expected him to be. Well, he was at first. As soon as Lee had seen how Naruto was treated, he expected him to be an ass. Arrogant, assuming, consumed by greed with a superiority complex. Some of that was true. The blond did see himself as superior to most of the village, but they were civilians. Who wasn't superior to them? And he did have his moments when he could be rather arrogant. But... he was more than that.

Lee smiled and folded the clothes he had picked out absently, as he thought back to the day he and Naruto had really gotten to know each other.

**XxXxXxX**

**- Konohagakure Academy : Lee & Naruto **_8 Months_** -**

"Alright you guys, that's enough. We'll call it quits for the day. Go get cleaned up and we will continue this bright and early tomorrow morning."

Lee wasn't the only one to cheer at the words, though the act felt shallow to him. His fellow classmates could be satisfied with a day well spent, but he had made no progress at all. His unique handicap was well known across the academy, and it was the bane of his existence. The inability to manipulate his Chakra made a large portion of his training almost entirely pointless, and it frustrated him to no end. His only solace seemed to be that physically, there was nothing wrong with him. At least his Taijutsu was fine.

His thoughts were interrupted when Naruto approached him, which came as a surprise. The blond seemed to be studying his movements, and Lee was reminded that Naruto had been acting strangely for the last couple of days.

"Good afternoon, Naruto-san. Can I help you with something?"

Naruto stared at him strangely for a moment before leaning against the training post beside him

"You have been trying to use the clone technique, haven't you?"

Lee's eyes slid to the ground, and he nodded. It was embarrassing for the boy to point out his failure to use one of the three simplest techniques taught in the academy.

"Yes, I have. I still seem to be having some trouble with it."

"You've had trouble with it before?"

"Oh yes. I have been trying to perform it successfully for the last two years. Every time I seem to get close, it just gets harder to do."

The younger boy frowned at the new information, and cocked his head to the side.

"You have been trying to do something you obviously can't for two years now? Doesn't that seem like a major waste of time to you?"

Lee was both surprised and angry at that, and he glared at the him.

"Well what else should I do? If I don't find some way to be able to use that technique, I will never be able to become a Shinobi."

Naruto rolled his eyes and straightened himself. For a moment, Lee thought he was going to leave and he didn't blame him. He wasn't expecting what came next though. The boy's fist lashed out, faster than he could react to, and it seemed like he had put all of his weight behind the blow. The haymaker knocked him to the ground, and Lee could only rub his jaw and stare up in shock.

"I just put you down, and I didn't even touch my reserves. Doesn't Iruka-sensei teach us that there is more to being a ninja than just flashy techniques? Just because you can't use your Chakra doesn't mean you should give up on your training when you can't pass that obstacle. Instead, maybe you should think about focusing on something else, and make yourself an expert on that field instead."

"What do you mean? What else is there that I could base being a ninja off of?"

"Well, you have some of the best Taijutsu in our class. Hell, even that asshole Mizuki has complimented you on it before. With some focus, you could become something really special."

Lee snorted in dismissal, but it was obvious that he wanted to believe him. Naruto offered him a hand, and helped Lee to his feet while the boy considered the suggestion.

"Is... is that even possible? I never considered that before. Would they even pass someone with only physical ability?"

Naruto turned his back to Lee, and put his hands in his pockets.

"Do you have any other choice?"

He didn't wait to hear Lee's answer, but he stopped when the older boy called out to him.

"Naruto... One day I _will_ get you back for that punch. Just you wait."

Lee wasn't sure what to expect, but the feral grin definitely wasn't it.

"Good. I look forward to it more than you know. You have too much potential to just waste, Lee. Show them what you can do."

Lee stood up straight, and a new flare had started burning in his eyes. Naruto wouldn't know it for some time, but he was now Lee's best friend. And that went a long way.

**XxXxXxX**

**- Run-down Apartment : Lee -**

The weeks following that conversation had been some of the best in Lee's life. Now that he wasn't pouring countless hours into trying to force his body to do things it was incapable of, his Taijutsu and physical power grew in leaps and bounds.

He had wanted nothing more than to show his progress to the instructors, but he hadn't at Naruto's behest. The order had confused him, but Naruto had explained that it would be far better for him if they only saw his progress on the day of the examination. How could they fail someone who kicked their ass in a physical bout, after all?

Lee's new goal in life was to become proficient enough in hand to hand combat to defeat whichever instructor he was paired with on the day of the examination, and he had been confident enough that he would pull it off. It was a pity that he wouldn't get that chance now. He had been looking forward to seeing the look on Mizuki's face when he wiped the floor with him.

With his clothes folded neatly and put away for maximum efficiency, Lee made another lap in his apartment looking for anything else he needed to take with him. Being an orphan, he had no one to say goodbye to, nor any pictures to pack. The only other thing he deemed fit to bring was a gift Naruto had given him on his last birthday. A pair of heavy, solid knuckle dusters with pointed studs protruding from each knuckle. He hadn't had the opportunity to use them in battle yet, but he had practiced with them relentlessly since he had gotten them.

Lee checked his clock and finished packing quickly. Naruto would be arriving at the rendezvous point soon, and he didn't want to be left behind. Though he definitely wouldn't shed any tears if they left before Anko got there.

He threw his bag over his shoulder and cast one last look at the apartment he had called home for so many years. It had served its purpose, but he wasn't exactly sorry to see it go. In a choice between traveling with Naruto or staying in Konoha without him, it was no contest. He left without looking back.

**XxXxXxX**

**- Red Light District Apartment : Anko -**

For the first time in months, Anko was cleaning her apartment. Well, maybe not so much _cleanin_g, as sifting through the various levels trying to find some clothes that she could take with her when she left the village. Her efforts were hurried, and she wasted no time on ceremony. Her only ticket out of the village was leaving in less than an hour, and she would be damned before she allowed it to slip between her fingers.

After some time spent searching, she managed to find a replacement trench coat, some more sets of body mesh, mini-skirts, and sashes. She piled them onto a sealing scroll she found lying around, and secured them with a flourish of Chakra.

With her clothes taken care of, she continued kicking random debris to the side, looking for anything else that might be useful. She came up with a handful of kunai, a rouge exploding tag, and a box of half-eaten dango. Though she wasn't sure how long the latter had been there, and wasn't willing to risk it.

Before she was finished packing everything away into her backpack, she hesitated when she saw a pair of picture frames lying face down next to each other. One was of her and Iruka, with her hanging off of his back and Iruka... looking terrified, as usual. She smiled happily as she thought back to the day the picture had been taken. Naruto and Lee had been sparring on a weekend, under Iruka's supervision when she showed up, bringing a camera along with her.

**XxXxXxX**

**- Training Ground : Naruto & Co. **_Three Months_** -**

"Very good, Lee! Naruto, you have to watch his punches _and_ kicks, or he will slip under your guard like that every time."

Naruto grunted as he tried to shake off the pain in his thigh from the solid blow Lee had managed to land. Sometimes he wondered if he had made the right decision to put Lee on the different track.

"Yes sir!"

"Well would you look at this? Two Genin hopefuls, beating each other senseless and I wasn't invited to watch?"

Iruka sighed in exasperation as he saw Anko approaching out of the corner of his eye. Ever since he and Naruto had run off a couple of drunks harassing her, the Snake Mistress had taken to following them around whenever she saw them. It was endearing in a way, now if only he could get her to stop slashing Naruto open whenever she got within kunai range.

Sure enough, as soon as he thought it he heard Naruto shout in exasperation and turn around with a bleeding laceration on the side of his neck.

"DAMMIT, Mitarashi-san!"

"Oi, brat! How many times have I told you to stop calling me that?"

"And how many times have I told _you_ to stop cutting me! Oh fuck you Lee, we're paused!"

Lee laughed out loud, having gotten a cheap shot at Naruto's ribs from his distraction.

"Such language, Naruto-kun! It is unbecoming of our great Hokage-sama's son!"

"You're dead!"

For a moment Iruka considered jumping between them before Naruto decided to get serious on Lee's ass, but his survival instinct talked him out of it. Naruto hated it whenever someone brought up his social status, so naturally Lee would do it all the time just to piss him off. How the two were such great friends was a mystery to him.

"You know, Anko-san, I'm probably going to end up carrying one, if not both of them, to the hospital later on thanks to you."

Anko's only response was to grin as she stood next to Iruka, watching Naruto try to pummel his companion into a bloody mush while Lee was trying to taunt him, evade his attacks, and laugh all at the same time. The more Lee would dodge, the more Naruto would get pissed, which would make Lee laugh harder, which pissed Naruto off even _more._ It was a vicious cycle.

"So, Anko-san. What brings you out this way? "

Anko looked at him innocently and smiled.

"What? I have to have a reason? I can't just pop in on my favorite-ist Chunin in the whole wide world?"

Iruka didn't shiver at that. He really didn't. Anko must have sensed that, because she laughed and pulled a camera out of her pocket.

"I just got back from a surveillance mission a few hours ago. They gave me a camera to take some pictures with, but there is still some film with. I figured there was no point in letting it go to waste."

Iruka laughed as Anko spun on her heel and aimed the camera toward the dynamic duo.

"Hey Naruto-kun! I love you!"

"Wait, what?"

His momentary distraction was enough for Lee to land a solid haymaker to the side of his face, at the exact same time as the camera flashed.

"Got it! Thanks Lee."

"No problem. That's for the first punch, Naruto-kun. We're even!"

Naruto stood up, rubbing his jaw and glowering.

"The hell you say!"

**XxXxXxX**

**- Red Light District Apartment : Anko -**

Anko laughed quietly to herself in her empty apartment. The rest of the day had been spent using the remainder of the film. Most of the shots had been pointless ones that were disposed of shortly after being developed, but others had been duplicated and kept. The first shot, of Naruto getting punched in the face, had been kept as blackmail material in case Naruto got a little moody at some point. No one outside the four of them had seen it yet, but that didn't mean it would always be that way. It was useful to keep Naruto complacent sometimes, though they had agreed not to overuse it.

The picture in her hand had been taken by Lee himself, who had insisted on getting pictures of him with all his 'precious people'. Even Naruto had gone along with it and agreed to pose for some of the pictures, much to the surprise of everyone.

It had been a great day for Anko, and she had kept many of the photos. The one of her and Iruka was the only one she had deemed worthy enough to frame though. She told herself it was only because of the look on Iruka's face, and she was almost ready to believe it. The chance to get out of the village was only part of the reason she was willing to travel with Naruto, after all.

At that thought she glanced at the clock and cursed loudly. She had lost track of time, and they were scheduled to meet soon. She tossed the pictures to the side, not bothering to take them with her. She was gone before they hit the ground, so she didn't see the picture of her and Iruka land softly on a pile of discarded underwear, nor the other picture shatter, the glass breaking cleanly down the middle. Right between the smiling faces of herself, and her old sensei.

**XxXxXxX**

**- Konoha Academy : Iruka -**

Iruka sighed loudly and leaned back in his chair. It had taken him a few hours, but he was finally finished grading the last set of tests and preparing for the final exam that would be held tomorrow. He knew he wasn't going to be there to see everyone graduate, but he still wished all of his old students nothing but the best of luck.

With everything ready for his temporary replacement to take care of things, he stood up slowly. He had spent many fun years in this same classroom, teaching the younger students and trying vainly to keep them all in line. Teaching had always been one of the things he loved to do. It was peaceful, but still rewarding. He had watched children of all paths of life and upbringings, from clan heirs to street urchins, grow up and get stronger in these walls. He was going to miss it.

He remembered the first time he had seen Naruto in his class, and his discussion with the Hokage about his son's behavior in class.

**XxXxXxX**

**- Hokage's Office : Iruka & Fourth **_One Year Two Months_** -**

"Iruka-san? The Hokage will see you now."

"Thanks."

Iruka was glad the wait was finally over. He had been sitting around for the last half hour before the Hokage had a spare moment to see him. Still, the Yondaime was an important man, and he was fortunate that he could spare any time at all.

The secretary gave him a flirtatious smile on his way past, and Iruka couldn't help but grin. The moment was gone before he closed the door behind him though. This wasn't a conversation he was particularly looking forward to. The room hadn't changed much since the last time he had been in, a few weeks ago, but the seemingly endless stack of paperwork was still present. It was a good reminder for the Chunin that he had gotten off lucky with only having to grade the occasional written test.

The Fourth noticed his arrival, and greeted him warmly, though he didn't look up from the paper he was looking over. His face was a little haggard, and there were dark rings under his eyes, as though he hadn't been sleeping well lately.

"Ah, Iruka-kun. It's good to see you. I understand you had something you wanted to speak with me about?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama. It's about Naruto, actually."

Minato looked up in mild surprise, and the signs of fatigue stood out alarmingly.

"Naruto? He isn't in any trouble, I hope? I understand that he can be a bit of a handful."

While Iruka knew he was addressing the strongest man of the village about his own son, his personal views as a teacher overrode those of any bias he might have felt out of the need for self-preservation. Basically, he was going to tell the truth, regardless of how much it might piss off the Hokage.

"Actually, its not that he's a trouble-maker. The opposite, actually. His attitude seems to drive away his classmates to the point that they are... afraid to approach him. I have been keeping my eye on him since I first noticed, and I have to say that he seems to have some rather worrying tendencies."

Minato nodded seriously and leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms.

"Such as?"

Iruka swallowed nervously, hyperaware of how dry his mouth was. The Hokage must have noticed his discomfort, as he smiled reassuringly.

"Iruka, don't worry about telling me whatever it is. If he has been acting up, just say so and I will have a word with him. Just because he is my son doesn't mean he is going to be treated any differently."

"Of course, sorry Hokage-sama. Well it seems like he is in a perpetual bad mood. Every time I see him he is frowning, and it is almost like he is stopping himself from losing his temper."

"I see. Have you tried talking to him about it?"

"Yes sir. He denies being actually upset about anything, but I don't think he is being entirely honest. Its almost like..."

"Like what?" The Hokage prodded.

"It's like he doesn't realize he's doing it. As though he isn't _capable_ of feeling anything else."

Whatever reaction Iruka was expecting, it wasn't that. Minato simply sighed loudly and rubbed his forehead.

"I was hoping it wouldn't happen, but I guess I'm just not that lucky."

"I... I don't understand."

The Fourth chose his words carefully, unsure of what exactly he could tell the man. On one hand, it wasn't like it was some SS-class secret with the punishment being death(though he would be immune anyway). On the other, it was pretty personal and he wasn't sure if it was his right to be spreading around his son's business to anyone who asked.

He finally decided that if you couldn't trust your teacher, who _could_ you trust? He dutifully ignored the fact that he was trained by Jiraiya. Besides, what was the worst that could happen?

"Iruka. You have heard the stories about how the Kyuubi was defeated, correct?"

Iruka frowned at the seemingly complete conversation change.

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

"And that the price to be paid for the beast's downfall was the life of our Sandaime Hokage?"

"That is what we were told, yes."

"Well you see, there is more to the story than was officially announced. Needless to say, whatever you hear in this room_ stays_ in this room, do you understand?"

Iruka blanched at the harshness in the man's tone, and wondered what he was getting himself into.

"Of course."

"Good. Everyone knows the seal was of my own design. Meant to destroy the Kyuubi, at the price of the caster. It was _supposed_ to trap the spirit of the demon into a newborn vessel, resulting in the child becoming a Jinchuuriki."

"Supposed to?"

"The seal was extremely intricate, and even I'm not entirely sure I knew everything about it. The problem is, the Sandaime knew even less. He did remarkably, considering he only had ten minutes to learn everything he could about it, but not even the God of Shinobi could memorize the entire process in that short of time. I planned to be the one to use my technique myself, but because of everything that happened that night, the Third somehow convinced me to take his place. He wasn't ready to use the technique, and in the end it failed."

"It failed? But... but the demon was conquered! We won. How can you say that it failed?"

"We might have been saved from the initial destruction, but the Kyuubi is still out there, gaining strength and with a vendetta against Konoha. And the price? The price was far more than anyone knows."

"More! Sarutobi-sama is _dead_! What more could possibly have been sacrificed?"

Minato glanced at the lone picture that sat on his desk. Kushina was lying in a hospital bed, looking exhausted, and he was standing beside her, with his arms around her shoulders. In her arms, was a little blond bundle.

"Basically? My son's soul."

**XxXxXxX**

**- Konoha Academy : Iruka -**

The teacher winced as he remembered that conversation. He could hardly imagine what it must be like for Naruto, being cursed shortly before his birth to have all the goodness within him sacrificed, for the _good of the village_. For the first time since he was a foolish Genin, Iruka questioned the actions of his home's wisest leaders.

It wasn't all bad though. From that day onward, Iruka had strove to be less of a teacher and more of a friend to the boy under his wing. Sure the kid had seemed incapable of laughing, grinning, or even showing compassion in any form to another living being, but he wasn't all bad. The fact that he actually exerted himself to help Lee out was only one proof, though that came a few years later.

He could honestly say that Naruto had come a long way from the social _wreck_ he had once been. While he still wasn't too good with feigning compassion, normal positive emotions didn't seem to be outside of his grasp. He had learned to watch his temper as well, as opposed to lashing out at everyone who seemed to wrong him, like he used to do.

Naruto wasn't going to be a social butterfly, that much was for damned sure. But Iruka was proud of his student, and was confident that the kid would turn out alright. If only things hadn't ended up the way they had. The teacher honestly had no idea how Naruto was reacting to basically being exiled from his home by his own father, no less, for the sake of the villagers. He knew this much at least, Naruto would never be the same. Despite whatever hopes the Yondaime might have, Konoha was no longer home for Naruto. Iruka could only hope that the boy didn't decided to mark it as his enemy.

With that final thought, he knew his place wasn't here anymore. He was only a school teacher, and a Chunin at that. The village would appoint someone to take his place, and life would go on. The rest of the graduating class would get along without him. Two of his students were going to need more help than the rest would, and he had every intention of seeing them through to the end. Wherever that may be.

He gathered his bag in the corner, full of things he had packed earlier that day after leaving the Hokage's office. Before he left, he slid his hand over one of the desks at front of the classroom. The same seat Naruto had occupied for his entire term. That seat held more history than even Naruto knew. His hand slid to the underneath of the desk, and he felt the familiar grooves that had been there almost as long as he had. 'Iruka was here'...

The teacher laughed sadly one last time and hefted his bag onto his shoulders. It was about time for him to leave. He would hate for Naruto to leave him after all. He didn't look back as he pulled the door to behind him.

**XxXxXxX**

**- Konoha Main Gate : Naruto & Co. -**

Naruto arrived at the scheduled meeting place to find Lee already waiting for him. The boy was surprisingly quiet, though he still smiled warmly at Naruto. It was possible that he was just nervous about leaving the village for the first time. If he wasn't leaving by order of his superiors, Naruto might have felt the same.

"Ah, Naruto-kun. It is good to see you here so soon. I had hoped to talk to you before the others got here."

"About what?"

Lee fidgeted a little, shifting the weight of his pack. He was uncomfortable about something, that much was obvious.

"Well, I just wanted to be sure that you were alright. This is a terrible thing that your Father is being forced to do, and-..."

"Lee, it's alright. He isn't being _forced_ to do anything. He is simply making a decision that will probably end up with the best possible outcome. I don't blame him for that. He's protecting the village, it is just coincidence that I happen to be on the other side of that protection."

Lee frowned at his best friend, but Iruka appeared from the darkness before he could press him about it.

"Ah! Iruka-sensei. I am glad that you have still decided to join is on our quest!"

"Lee, it's not a quest."

Iruka chuckled at Naruto's attempt to quell any ideas Lee might have been getting. The dark haired boy would not be put out however, and he grinned even harder than before, his teeth somehow reflecting the light from the half moon above them.

"Nonetheless! I am still pleased that he will be traveling with us as we... Uhm, what exactly are we going to do?"

"You know, that's a damn good question. So Naruto, what _are_ we going to do?"

The blond was about to ask why he was apparently elected to be the leader of the group, but was cut off by the sound of a kunai whizzing through the night air. He jerked his body to the side in an attempt to dodge what was no doubt aimed for his cheek.

Anko had foreseen his dodge though, and in fact he evaded _into_ the throwing knife. Naruto prodded his cheek and examined the blood that came from the light wound, before pulling the knife from the wooden wall it had lodged itself into.

"I love you to, Anko-chan."

A strangled gasp came from one of the rooftops to Naruto's left, and he hefted the kunai with as much speed as he could. He was rewarded by a shriek of surprise, before a pop and a burst of smoke. Knowing what was coming, Naruto just closed his eyes as, sure enough, Anko leaned over his shoulder to lick his cheek.

"Aw, I never new little Naru-kun felt that way about me. I'm flattered."

Both Iruka and Lee watched the exchange, twitching slightly.

"Well, now that Mitarashi-san is here," Anko pouted when Naruto switched back to the formal title. "We can be on our way."

The blond readjusted his duffel bag on his shoulder, and walked through the gates, nodding to the Chunin guards on duty.

"So, Naruto, I take that to mean that you do have a plan after all?"

Naruto shrugged without looking back. The three fell into step beside him along the road. If they were on a mission of some kind, they would be tree hopping to cover ground faster. As it was though, they had nowhere to go in a hurry, so they were taking their time.

"I wouldn't really call it a plan, but yeah, I have a general idea."

"Ha! I had no doubt that Naruto-kun would know exactly what to do for us to be rid of this awful predicament! So what are we going to do? Meet some people at another village? Travel the world as highly skilled mercenaries? Fight evil in all of its forms!"

The more Lee talked, the more excited he seemed to become, until he was practically running in place.

"First, we're going to find a clearing."

"...huh?"

**XxXxXxX**

**- Seven miles North of Konoha -**

"Alright, this should do fine."

While trained to go out on constant high-stress missions, traveling at high speeds and strung out on caffeine and soldier pills the entire time, Anko wasn't used to plodding along at civilian speeds. So when Naruto called for a stop, she dropped her stuff where she stood and sat down, sighing happily.

Iruka was likewise happy to sit down for a minute. Being a school teacher didn't exactly call for exertion or long bouts of travel, though he was starting to get back into the routine of things. He hadn't taught his _entire_ career, after all.

Lee though... Lee was still running in place, seeming to have no end to his stamina reserves.

"Success! We have finally found a suitable place for Naruto-kun to enact his master plan!"

Anko glared over at the kid. Back in Konoha, she had thought the boy simply acted the way he did around Naruto in order to embarrass him. Never had she suspected that he was like this all the time.

"Oh my god, do you ever shut up!"

Iruka just chuckled softly and shook his head, causing Anko to groan and lean back, lying down on her back, staring up at the stars.

"I think I was better off with the villagers."

"Would you three shut up for a minute? I need to concentrate here."

The trio glanced over at Naruto in surprise, who was kneeling over an unrolled storage scroll. Iruka made his way over and looked over Naruto's shoulder in interest.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to figure out how to unseal the contents of this scroll. It's some kind of variation of the standard seal that I'm not familiar with."

Iruka looked it over for a minute, calculating the various runes scrawled across its surface. After a moment he realized what it was, and smiled.

"You wouldn't be. This is a blood seal. It's like a storage seal, but instead of general Chakra, it uses a specific blood sample to unlock it. We don't even teach about these in the academy. There's really no reason for amateurs to know about them."

Naruto nodded, but then groaned in frustration.

"Great, just great. I need to get at what's inside, but I don't have the right blood sample."

"I wouldn't be so sure. Who gave you this?"

"The Hokage. Why?"

Iruka grinned and tapped him on the chest.

"You're the blood sample. Because you are his biological son, it should open for you as well."

Naruto nodded and pricked himself on the thumb with a kunai. The minute the blood hit the parchment, the seal started hissing, a slight pillar of steam emitting from it as whatever was supposed to happen happened.

Pretty soon the seal cracked down the middle, and the Tower Heart appeared atop the scroll amidst a plume of smoke. Iruka stumbled back in surprise, not expecting something of such substantial size to appear. He had expecting a map or something, not a... whatever the hell that thing was.

"What the-..."

"Oi, brat! What the hell is that?"

Naruto ignored Anko and Lee, and got closer to the Tower Heart, trying to figure out how he could activate it. Last time it seemed to be brought to life by his anger, but now it was motionless. He placed his hand across its side, ignorant of the blood still slipping down his finger from the self-inflicted cut.

The moment his blood smeared along its side, the cool marble seemed to heat up instantaneously, almost burning Naruto's hand. He made to jerk back from it, but his hand had a mind of its own. It remained pressed against the glass like material, despite the scalding heat.

The Tower Heart began humming, slowly at first, but quickly gaining in intensity. In less than five seconds, even Lee was pressing his hands against his ears, trying to block out the sound boring through his brain.

When before the colorful smoke swirling within the mysterious artifact were white and blue, it seemed to change. The smoke closest to the blood mark grew a dark black, before brightening into a horrifying shade of red. Not all of the smoke changed all the way though, and much of it remained black, until the white and blue was replaced entirely.

The entire time, Naruto was still standing with his hand pressed against the Heart, and his head leaned back as far as it would go, spine bent so he was facing directly upwards. A scream escaped his lips, and he roared up at the heavens from the pain and sensations coursing through him.

"Naruto!"

Lee did his best to ignore the agony lancing through his mind, and charged towards his best friend. Whatever that thing was, it was hurting him and he planned to get it away from him. Without any other ideas coming to mind, Lee slammed into Naruto as hard as he could, in an attempt to separate him from the orb.

As he did, the Tower Heart seemed to have finished whatever it was doing, and the horrible buzzing slowly died down until it was no more. Still, Lee lay on top of Naruto for a moment, trying to hold his friend's jerking body down before he hurt himself.

"Oh my god! Naruto!"

"I swear to god, Namikaze! You better not die on me!"

With the help of the two adults, Lee was able to hold the blond down until he stopped spasming underneath them. When the episode ended, he lay disturbingly still, unmoving, but breathing steadily. As though he were in a deep sleep.

"I... don't believe it. The Tower Heart, it..."

The three humans spun around in the direction of the unfamiliar voice, and each drew their weapons in preparation to defend their friend. On the other side of the clearing, a few yards away stood a hunched over figure with a glowing light orbiting just above his head.

"Oh don't worry about your friend, I'm sure he will be fine. We met before, and he might very well be exactly what we are looking for."

Far from trusting the little creature, none of the trio dropped from their positions. Gnarl was far from intimidated though, and hobbled over to their side, examining the boy behind them. As he watched, the boy's eyes slowly started to open, and shoved Lee off of him, from where he had been almost leaning entirely over him.

"Naruto! You're okay! Talk to me."

Naruto blinked in confusion as he stared up at the four faces that were directly in his vision.

"What the hell hit me?"

Gnarl cackled deviously and turned his back on the boy, returning to look at the Tower Heart, which was still burning brightly and had black and red plumes of smoke dancing inside.

"What hit you Sire, would be the power of Destiny. The Tower Heart doesn't form a blood bond with just anyone. In fact, I haven't seen it do anything like this since it's creation."

Naruto frowned as he stared at the Minion Master, and spoke in the same way a hospital patient would, who is under the effects of strong pain-killers.

"You're... you're real?"

Gnarl nodded happily, and Naruto just allowed his head to fall back into the dirt.

"Ah, shit."

The small creature snapped his fingers, and a small hoard of brown creatures appeared from the treeline, armed with wooden cudgels and filthy loin cloths. Half of them ran to the glowing orb and encircled it, lifting with obvious struggle. One of them yelled loudly about it being hot, but the others only grunted and strained.

The other half circled Naruto and started jumping up and down excitedly.

"Da Masta!"

"Ova'lord!""

Gnarl smacked one of them across the back of the head in irritation.

"All of you morons, back up and give the Master some space! He has just gone through quite the ordeal."

Lee seemed to have finally had enough, and started shouting loudly.

"What the fuck is going on here! Who-what-, whatever! Who the fuck are you!"

Both Iruka and Anko stared in shock at Lee as he swore loudly. It was the first time he had ever said anything profane, and neither of them thought he had it in him. Iruka was worried about his mental state, while Anko was just... Anko.

Gnarl meanwhile was completely unconcerned by the outburst, and was busy directing the Minions to lift Naruto as best they could.

"I will explain later, but we cannot stay here! There are some of your 'Ninjas' coming this way from the direction of your village. We must get out of here before we are discovered. They must not know of our existence!"

While none of them wanted to trust the creatures, Naruto was back on his feet by now, and was staggering away behind Gnarl. They all made a snap judgment call and followed along, Lee offering Naruto a shoulder, and helping him carry his weight. While they didn't trust Gnarl, they did trust Naruto. They would sort this out later.

By the time the four man Anbu squad arrived, they were the only ones in the clearing. All they found was a broken blood scroll, four sets of human prints, and roughly two dozen smaller prints they had never seen before. One of the group took a sample of the strange prints, and another the blood scroll before returning to Konoha. A separate team would be sent to investigate. They were just to return to the Yondaime and explain what they had seen.

The burst of foul energy had been felt all through Konoha, and not a single person didn't feel it. Those old enough to remember found it comparable to the Kyuubi's own Chakra. It was far from the same though, and some would argue that it was actually worse. While it wasn't as strong as the Kyuubi's, it was far more... Evil.

* * *

_A/N: Finally, the second chapter is out. This took me longer to write than I had thought because of the character development. I have always hated writing flashbacks. Hopefully this will be the end of them though, it should be all forward from here on. Maybe... Now, just to clear some things up before I get bitched out by all you haters. Naruto did not in fact, have his soul ripped out. The Fourth was just using it as a way to explain to Iruka that Naruto's 'good side' was taken as part of the price that had to be paid. Their conversation continued after what is shown, but I didn't type it all up because I am lazy. Sue me. You can team up with Kishimoto and Triumph Studios while you're at it._

_Real quick, a big **big**__ shout out to Effiron for his help with the Type 2 error. No clue what it was, but I got it handled. Thanks bro, you're a life saver._

_Finally, my thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, and my sincerest sympathy for everyone who broke their finger just before they could push the button. I hope you feel better soon. Really soon. Wink, wink._

_Stay Frosty...  
- Nikolai_


	3. Homecoming, Dissatisfaction

**Ch. 3 : Homecoming, Dissatisfaction**

_A/N : You cried for it, and so I give it to you. Here's chapter three of Nulla Gratia. Enjoy..._

Disclaimer : I do not own Naruto, Overlord, or any obscure references to other owned or written material, either official or those of fandom. They are all property of associated parties.

* * *

**XxXxXxX**

**- Forest Path -**

They had been following the Minion Master for the past twenty minutes, and he had yet to say anything. Every once in a while he would complain to the minions carrying the Tower Heart, but that was where conversation ended. After the initial shock of seeing the creatures for the first time, Anko, Lee, and Iruka had tried to get Naruto to open up on what he knew, to no avail.

"Naruto, come one. I'm your teacher. You know you can tell me anything! All I want to know is how long you knew about them."

"And as your student, Iruka-sensei, I'm telling you. I met the gray one yesterday. Just after you guys left the Hokage's office. He took me down to this hidden chamber full of artifacts. Told me about how that Tower Heart thing was a family heirloom that has been guarded for generations. I touched it, got drawn into what I'm guessing as some kind of mind scape, and talked to Gnarl. We had a conversation that made _no sense whatsoever_, and then I found myself back in the artifact room. The Hokage sealed it into that blood scroll and told me to take it with me. That's all I know."

Anko snorted, obviously unimpressed, while Lee kept trying to address the Minion Master.

"What are you! I've never seen a creature that looks like you before. I mean I have read stories about creatures that hide from people and everything because they are shy, but-..."

"Shy? No, we aren't shy. My race and tribes under my control once struck fear into the frail hearts of man. The only reason we have 'hidden' is because we lacked an Overlord."

Lee recoiled at the venom in Gnarl's voice, and Naruto chuckled darkly.

"Good job Lee, you offended him."

"I apologize, Gnarl-san. I didn't mean anything by my words. I am simply curious."

Gnarl glared at the boy for a moment before shrugging and waving him off.

"Yeah yeah, whatever. Don't expect me to be friendly or anything though. I don't do 'people'. And don't call me 'Gnarl-san'."

"So Gnarl, where are you taking us anyway?"

"To da Towa'! Da Towa'!" One of the browns yelled, excitedly.

"Grubber is correct. We are taking you to your ancestral home, Master. We can't very well begin your reign of terror from an apartment now, can we?"

"Reign of terror?"

Naruto wasn't the only one surprised by that, and in fact Iruka was casting murderous looks at the Minion Master. Even Anko was sporting a look of concern. Who would have guessed she would have an issue with becoming evil? Gnarl looked back at the group incredulously.

"Ye-eah. What the hell else do you plan to do with an army under your command? Sell girl-scout cookies?"

"What's a girl-scout?" Lee was ignored.

"Well you still haven't exactly explained what it is you plan to do with us when we get to whatever this 'tower' thing is."

The Minion Master grunted before hobbling over to a batch of overgrown bushes. A faint glimpse of some kind of brown circle could be seen on the ground beneath.

"Alright you worthless lot, get to clearing off that Tower Gate, unless you plan on heaving the Tower Heart all the way to the Tower on foot."

The minions who weren't busy carrying the massive glass orb gave a few cries of excitement and started hacking at the shrubbery with their cudgels. They were surprisingly effective too, considering they had no bladed weapons. In a few short seconds the job was finished, and the clearing showed a strange relic of some lost age.

"This is a Tower Gate, Master. They are arcane links between the Dark Tower and your kingdom, sire. Once one has been activated, these can transport you between them and the Tower instantaneously. Evil doesn't like road trips, after all."

The four humans watched as the Tower Heart was placed on the gate and disappeared in a show of sparks. A moment later, the edges of the gate started glowing red, and Gnarl clapped his hands together.

"Excellent! Power to the Tower has been restored, and the gate is active once more. You have no idea how troublesome it was hiking all the way from there to your pathetic village. I haven't been this active in a couple hundred years."

Gnarl must have missed the looks he was being given, as he herded the minions onto the gate as well, and they all disappeared in the same way the gate did. With a show of blue sparks. When they were gone, the Minion Master looked took his place on the the portal and waved to the humans.

"Come on already. We don't have all day. It's perfectly safe, really."

Iruka and Lee obviously didn't want anything to do with the transportation device, and Anko didn't miss the opportunity to screw with the Chunin.

"Oh come on Iruka-kun, don't be a coward. What's the worst that could happen?"

Before he could answer, both Anko and Naruto stepped forward to stand next to the Minion Master. Lee had no intention of leaving his best friend to the devices of the little creatures alone, leaving Iruka to be the only one standing outside the glowing circle. He glanced back in the direction of Konoha and sighed loudly.

"Well, I've come this far..."

Besides, maybe if he stayed with Naruto he could find a way to keep him from becoming the next evil Overlord or something. He stepped onto the gate and the world faded to black as they felt a sensation of weightlessness.

**XxXxXxX**

**- The Dark Tower -**

As the weight of the world returned to them, Lee dropped to his knees and heaved loudly over a shallow pool of water. Gnarl hobbled over to him quickly and started hitting him over the back with his walking stick.

"Hey! Not in the pool!"

Lee wasn't the only person effected by the transportation, and Naruto sat down heavily on the closest thing he could find that would support his weight. Anko, feeling a little tipsy, 'lost her balance' and fell conveniently right in Naruto's lap, with her legs dangling over the arm of the chair and her breasts pressing into his chest. Iruka swayed lightly, but steadied himself with a hand on the stone wall.

"Well that's a hell of a thing."

When Lee rolled over onto his back and away from the reflecting pool, Gnarl stopped beating him and gave the group a few moments to adjust. He took his place at the right of Naruto while letting Naruto check his new home out. The blond took the moment to examine his surroundings while doing his best to ignore the quiet whimpers Anko was making, and the effect it was having.

The main hall, at least he assumed that was where they were, was in a state of disrepair. It was actually pretty pathetic. The majestic walls of gray stone had crumbled and lay in ruin. Vines and weeds grew along the walls and through the cracks in the floor. He was sitting in a large throne at the end of a short walkway with staircases that led deeper into the Tower, though they were blocked by chunks of debris. Behind him were a set of flagpoles that he assumed were there to hold his banners, and on the wall after that were a set of plaques, though they held nothing.

"This is the Dark Tower, huh?"

Gnarl nodded proudly as he looked around. Not too bad, if he did say so himself.

"I'm not impressed."

The Minion Master's ears drooped, and he nodded sadly.

"Yes, I know. As I have said, it has been a while since we had an Overlord and the Tower has fallen into shambles to reflect that. Now that you are here, however, it shouldn't take us too long to get it back into a proper bastion of evil, Sire. Provided we get the materials we need, of course."

"Of course you do. Nothing can be simple, can it?" He sighed. "Alright, what do you need in order to fix this damn place up?"

Iruka and Lee both finished checking out their surroundings and came to stand in front of the throne in order to hear the conversation. Anko rolled over a little bit to look directly up at Naruto, who pushed her off of his lap. She must have had enough of flirting around, because even she stood up straight and started paying attention.

"Well first of all, the Tower is capable of repairing most of its own damage as long as it has its heart. You have managed to return it, so some of the minor repairs should begin shortly. We will still need some heavy equipment in order to clear the debris from the passageways though. A crane would be ideal."

Naruto frowned at that and turned to Iruka.

"Any ideas on where we can find a crane around here?"

"Naruto, I don't even know where we _are_. Let alone where to find supplies we need."

"That's... actually a really good point. Gnarl, where in the hell are we?"

"Well Sire, the Dark Tower is located on a mountain range in the land you have humans have called Numa no Kuni."

Neither Naruto nor Lee had ever heard of it, and while Iruka had seen it on the map, only Anko seemed to have any experience in dealing with it.

"Swamp Country huh? Awesome! I had a mission here once to protect the Daimyo, so we are on pretty good terms. Maybe this won't suck so bad after all."

"Alright, you know what? It's too late for all this crap, and I haven't slept in like... thirty two hours."

"Lightweight..." Anko muttered under her breath.

"I have a pounding headache, my entire body is sore, and if one of these damn minions says something stupid one more time, I will throw them out the window. I swear to god!"

The Browns in the room quickly scattered and went their separate ways, disappearing down the various hallways, though most went down a flight of stairs leading to a lower level of the Tower. Gnarl didn't share their apprehension, and remained steadily where he was.

"Perhaps the Master needs a good night's rest. We can make plans in the morning. Your private chamber is to your right, Sire. The servant's quarters are on the opposite side. I will have some Browns prepare your rooms."

"And what about mine?"

"Your room has always been in serviceable condition, Sire."

"Good," The blond stood and made his way to the hall Gnarl had pointed out, eager to get some sleep. "I don't want to be disturbed."

"As you command."

The group watched as he exited then the humans turned to stare at Gnarl for a minute.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"...what?"

They all shook their heads and headed to the rooms Gnarl had pointed out. Hopefully they would be inhabitable, at least.

Naruto couldn't help but whistle at what was no doubt ground zero for whatever weaponized natural disaster had struck. The once majestic four-poster bed had partially collapsed in the middle, sagging heavily under the weight of the massive mattress. The thick drapes on the window had been devoured mostly by moths and hung in tatters, though he was willing to overlook those because they at least _looked_ tasteful. Judging by the debris in the center of it, some upper part of the fireplace had fallen in on itself, leaving it totally inoperable. Various other details were so horribly out of place he couldn't even begin to catalog them all.

"This place is in total bloody shambles!"

He grunted angrily and dumped his duffel bag in the corner by the door. Anywhere else and it ran the risk of getting... _whatever_ all over his belongings. He kicked a foot out from under the bed, causing it to fall the rest of the way in a much more balanced manner. Once again, the blond Overlord looked it over.

"First order of business? Either get this place cleaned up, or find somewhere more suitable. Because this sucks."

He shrugged off his jacket and overshirt, but left undershirt and pants where they were. He still wasn't a hundred percent on making skin contact with the bed as it was. Hell, he was pretty sure that something had made it their nest at some point. Doing what he could to ignore the feelings, Naruto rolled over onto his side and bunched his jacket, using it as a makeshift pillow.

"Well... the castle is in horrible condition. That much is obvious. Plus we are closer to populated areas than I feel comfortable with. Besides that, Gnarl said that this place has fallen to the enemy before. If it happened before, it could very well happen again. We are in the middle of a clearing, and the land around us is a defensive nightmare."

He shifted so he was lying on his back and staring up at the ceiling.

"We need a better base."

Something solid and heavy skittered on the other side of a stone wall and he heard the unmistakable sound of a minion laughing. Whatever was making all that racket was running from the Brown, and by the sound of it, it wasn't doing so well. Sure enough just a few seconds later the laughing came to a crescendo, followed by a meaty thwack of a club hitting flesh.

Naruto squeezed his eyes shut covered his ears with his hands, groaning loudly to himself.

At first his dreams were of the mundane variety. Lee getting hit by runaway horse cart. Konoha being invaded by every rivaling village at once. That sort of thing. At some point however, his subconscious wandered back to his dilemma.

'I can't believe I got stuck with such a shitty tower.'

His surroundings bled out, changing from the vague city street he was in to an blank black expanse. His also realized that he was thinking much clearer than he usually did when he was asleep.

'What kind of Overlord lives in a place that is about to collapse?'

As he thought the words, a bizarre sensation came over him. Like he was being watched, only different somehow. Like he was being watched by something, but at the same time he wasn't the only thing. As though he was barely worth consideration, and was added as an afterthought.

Then, as if whatever entity was there finally deemed him worthy of notice, it spoke to him. Not with words though. He got the feeling that the being was far beyond speaking in something he could comprehend. Instead, its acknowledgment came in the form of images and emotions. They came in a series of flashes, almost incomprehensible in their speed.

Each image had an emotion that associated with it, and they lasted just as long. The first was an image of him being cradled by his mother on the day of his birth, and he felt an unfamiliar emotion. Regret, he supposed. Next was happiness as his father taught him how to hold and throw kunai correctly. It was followed by a surge of pride as he once more stood before his father, who was smiling down at him warmly. In his hand he clenched an acceptance letter to Konoha's Shinobi Academy.

They continued long after that, summarizing his life with the highlights. The positive moments soon ran dry though, and he was left with the negative. Most noticeably anger and hatred. The entity seemed as pleased as something that vast and alien could be.

"What are you?"

There was silence and nothing for a moment, as though it was deciding how to answer. It was over in an instant, and he was overwhelmed with the strongest concentration of negative emotion he had ever felt. Rage, loathing, madness... and yet none of these. Naruto felt things he could never explain and would never try to. He faltered in the presence of such strength, unsure of what to do. After all, it was just a dream right?

"What do you want from me?"

More images assaulted him, but this time it was nothing he had ever experienced before. So they definitely weren't his memories as the last batch had been. He saw men and women in various states of undress, and the clothes they were wearing were falling apart. There bodies were illuminated by a wide ring shaped bonfire, built around a tall stone slab.

Atop the slab was between seven and eight inches in height, and of exquisitely artistic workmanship. It represented a monster of vaguely anthropoid outline, but with an octopus-like head whose face was a mass of feelers, a scaly, rubbery-looking body, prodigious claws on hind and fore feet, and long, narrow wings behind. This thing, which seemed instinct with a fearsome and unnatural malignancy, and squatted evilly on a rectangular block or pedestal covered with undecipherable characters. The tips of the wings touched the back edge of the block, the seat occupied the center, whilst the long, curved claws of the doubled-up, crouching hind legs gripped the front edge and extended a quarter of the way down toward the bottom of the pedestal. The cephalopod head was bent forward, so that the ends of the facial feelers brushed the backs of huge fore paws which clasped the croucher's elevated knees. The aspect of the whole was abnormally life-like, and the more subtly fearful because its source was so totally unknown. Its vast, awesome, and incalculable age was unmistakable.

Out of the corner of his vision, Naruto noticed something strange in the eyes of the dancers as they stared adoringly up at the sculpture. Upon further examination he recognized it to be a glint of madness.

"What? You want worshipers? You expect me to bow to you?"

He received a negative, and this time had a vision of people as before, this time bowing to himself. At the same time there was a shadowy silhouette towering behind him in the same shape as the idol he held before him in outstretched arms. He was wearing a strange suit of eldritch armor, covered in bizarre designs, and radiated an immense aura of power.

"No... you want me to be your emissary?"

Again, he saw himself but this time, as a king. He was sitting in an elaborate throne. Before him stood nine blacked out figures, facing away from him. Looking up to him from the vast chamber were a strange set of figures, each in immense numbers. Only one group looked to truly be human. The others varied widely, from lumbering giants to lizards, to a weird human/snake hybrid. He couldn't even begin to name them all.

"All these beings will follow me to you when I call?"

For a moment he saw himself standing above on of the blacked out beings, it writhing on the floor in pain and terror. Meanwhile, he was grinning. The unfortunate creature must have resisted in some way.

"And what's in it for me? Other than your army, apparently."

This, once more, seemed to please it. It showed him images of mountains of gold, the major cities of the elemental countries with his banner flying about them. He saw himself in a throne while two beautiful, but shadowed out women hung from his arms. He got the sense that when he met them, if he took what was offered, he would know them for who they were. He was still skeptic though, and the entity showed him one more image. Konoha in flames.

"And when all of this is complete? After I gather your army, what then?"

He was shown a calendar flipping quickly, its pages becoming a blur. Behind it was a landscape with the sun and the moon spinning through their cycle to match the speed of the calender, implying the passage of time. Finally, after what must have been decades, it stopped. A massive pair of doors filled his vision. He and the nine shadow figures stood before it. With some ritual the doors opened wide, and there was movement within the shadows.

"You want to be released. Where are you? In fact, how the hell am I even supposed to raise an army in the first place? I'm fifteen, no one in their right mind would want to pledge their allegiance to a boy who had a dream. My tower is in ruins, and I don't even have my entire birthright!"

A wave of exasperation. Not impatience, but as though the being was angry at being doubted. He was shown an image of the Dark Tower in its disrepair. The wind shifted to look at the rising sun, and rushed towards it. The landscape swept by in a blur, stopping every once in a while to show landmarks he was to follow to his destination. After what signified weeks of travel by foot, he saw the ancient ruins of what once had been a great city, now half-sunken in eerie green waves. A twisted black tower rose from the center, piercing the heavens. For the first time, Naruto felt a word reverberating through his mind.

"R'lyeh."

His body shuddered at the alien power in the voice, and started to understand just how insignificant he was in the eyes of this creature. He swallowed nervously and took a moment to steady himself before he asked the ultimate question.

"Why me?"

His vision shook in what he hoped to be amusement. He was shown an image of something he was well familiar with. The night of the Kyuubi attack, fifteen years ago. This time something was different. As though he was being told some obscene, forbidden secret. The textbooks and recollection spoke of the Third's sacrifice as though it was heroic and pure. But this just felt... wrong.

As he watched the demon fox bat aside the soldiers of Konoha, the Third Hokage arrived atop the shoulder of a massive monkey summon. In the old man's arms was a bundle that Naruto recognized from the stories to be himself. The monkey boss did what it could to distract the Kyuubi while the Sandaime performed the sealing technique to summon the Shinigami. Something went wrong in his hand-seals though, and he summoned something much worse. No one in Konoha would know if for what it was though. No one had ever felt the energy of a death god before, after all. They had no way to know that it wasn't. The Fourth Hokage would have doubts, but never enough to act upon them.

Naruto watched as the technique was finished, despite the mistake. As soon as the power was fully conjured, he recognized it for what it was.

"He summoned you!"

The vision continued, and Naruto watched as the creature appeared. The draconic wings and tentacled maw, as well the gasp of horror from the Third sealed his suspicions. Arms and claws capable of crushing planets themselves seized the Kyuubi and held him in place. The monstrosity drew the Kyuubi, no larger than a pup to the God, towards itself. Countless tentacles lashed out and tore into the fox's flesh and Chakra. The wounds didn't just separate the Chakra, but devoured it and cut directly into the soul of the strongest of the Bijuu. The Kyuubi howled in pain as its very being was shredded, leaving gaping holes that would take years to heal and scars that never would.

As Naruto watched, seven tails were torn from the body of the beast and consumed by its attacker. Finally, the fox was able to wrench itself free and it took the opportunity to flee, abandoning any trace of dignity in an attempt to survive the night.

The humans cheered as the fox fled, but the God-being wasn't quite finished. It turned to Sarutobi, who was about to collapse from the technique, and the young newborn he cradled protectively in his arms. With infinite care, the being reached out a single tentacle and, ignoring the retired Hokage's pitiful attacks, pressed it to the boy's heart. The baby cried in agony as his very soul was seared by something not of this world, and something was wrenched from him in much the same way as the Kyuubi had. Naruto gasped in understanding.

"It was you! Somehow you took something from me. That's not all though, is it? You game me something in return."

A blinding pain ripped through him that had nothing to do with the dream. He was vaguely aware of his body roaring in agony as he rolled in his bed, grasping his chest directly over his heart. He pulled up his shirt to see the area burning, only to find strange symbol growing darker and more pronounced. The center was an octopus like head with tentacles reaching out to form three crescent moon shapes in the form of a symbol often seen around Konoha's hospital.

Eventually the pain ended, and before he could ask any questions, he was sent some more visions. The being trapped in an ocean of silence, unable to communicate. The surprise when he was ripped from his slumber to see a blood sacrifice and a being of great power on which to feed. It wasn't enough to forgive humanity of its transgressions, but it was sufficient for him to return a fraction of his power. Enough to make Naruto its Champion.

Then, Naruto was given his orders. He was to travel to the sunken city, where the God's powers were strongest. There, his questions would be answered. Naruto felt the connection weaken, and he called out a final question.

"What are your called?"

There was silence for a moment before it spoke in its mind rending way.

"...Cthulhu."

**XxXxXxX**

**- The Dark Tower : **_The Next Morning _**-**

Naruto awoke to the sounds of construction and was pretty unsurprised to see Minions swarming everywhere, trying to remove what rubble they could with their bare hands. It would have been an amusing sight if he wasn't taking it in at seven in the morning.

"Why are you guys making so much noise this early in the morning? What in the hell is wrong with you?"

One of the minions standing on a makeshift scaffold raised a claw to say something, but its companion nudged it in the ribs to shut it up. The first glared at it and shoved it, leading to a push fight that ended with one of them falling from the scaffold and hurtling toward the stone ground, screaming. Naruto thought for a moment that it was dead, but it sat up, both eyes spinning dazedly.

"Ah, good morning, Sire! Good to see you up bright and early. I had the Browns begin working to clean this place up as quickly as possible."

"So you're the reason I was woken up, huh?"

Gnarl gulped hesitantly.

"Uh, I mean... what I meant to say was, um..."

Naruto placed a hand on the Minion Master's shoulder and smiled kindly, though the darkness in his eye only twisted the look into something Gnarl was quite fond of. If it wasn't directed at him, that is.

"Oh Gnarl, I'm not the one you need to be worried about." He turned Gnarl around with the arm on his shoulder and pointed in the direction of one of the the guest bedrooms. "She is."

Standing in the doorway was Anko with three vicious looking vipers slithering down from each arm. Usually her coat sleeve concealed their origins, but as she was only wearing a long t-shirt, they were shown to meld into her skin at the crook of her elbow.

"G-good morning, Mitarashi."

She yawned slowly, somehow giving off an innocent appeal despite the malicious glare she was wearing.

"It will be better after I feed you to my snakes."

Gnarl spun on his heel to beg his Master's protection, only to find himself alone. Naruto was walking down the throne walkway, examining the surroundings in better detail. His distraction ended up being his downfall, as he felt serpentine cords encircling his arms and waist.

"MERCY!"

Anko hesitated from giving the order to her summons, and pouted when Naruto signaled for her to release him.

"I need him. For now."

Gnarl remained motionless until the snakes had fully retracted before hobbling over to stand by his Master's side. He gave the snake mistress a dirty glare before paying attention to Naruto. The boy had seemed to come to some kind of consensus and nodded to himself.

"Gnarl, how long has this tower been standing?"

"At least a few thousand years, Sire. No one knows its exact date of construction. Even vaguely."

"And the Tower Heart is the soul and power source of the Dark Tower, right?"

"Well, basically yes. It's actually-..." He was cut off.

"That's what I thought."

Naruto turned and continued his walk down the massive hall, taking notes of the collapsed corridors that lined its length.

"And how many times has it been penetrated and ransacked by the enemies of the Overlord?"

Gnarl hummed and tapped his chin with a claw.

"Well I'm not sure of the precise number, but it couldn't have been _that_many, Sire."

Naruto stared at him and cut through the crap.

"Many or few?"

The Minion Master's ears drooped a little, and he scratched his head.

"Well I wouldn't exactly say _many_, but..."

"I thought so. Well that settles it then."

By this time, Gnarl was completely confused.

"Settles what? What are you talking about?"

Naruto crossed his arms and leaned against his throne. Even the chair was broken, he noticed. A chunk of stone was missing from the top left corner of the back rest.

"It has fallen before, and that means no matter how much effort we put into defending it, it can and most likely will fall again. This is unacceptable, no?"

The aged Minion was shocked and a little put out.

"What! Master, your predecessors all lived and ruled in this very Tower! Ever since the very first Overlord created us."

"And they are all dead, aren't they?"

Gnarl made to comment, but the words wouldn't come out. Actually, he didn't have any in the first place. The boy was right. They had all fallen to their enemies. The only exception was the Third Overlord, and even then he was brought to ruin by his enemies... sort of. Still, he had hope that his old and favorite Master was still alive. There was no way anything like the Infernal Abyss could stop someone like the Third, after all.

"Well even so, what place could be better to rule from than the Dark Tower? Nothing is impenetrable, and we have total control over the only place that is closest to it."

"Not true. I've heard rumors about a place that is both safer, and far more powerful than the Dark Tower ever was, or will be. Tell me, Gnarl. Have you ever heard of a city called R'lyeh?"

"Of course. It used to have been this massive and majestic city before it just sunk one day. Many people have sought it out over the centuries, hoping to recover some long lost riches or artifacts, but very few returned alive and the ones that did died soon after. It is supposed to be inhabited by some kind of monster, but there are no specific details about it and it hasn't been proven. The survivors were quite mad, after all."

A thought struck Gnarl, and he frowned at Naruto.

"Actually, how do you know of it? You people haven't even discovered it yet, and as far as I know we have no records of it in the Tower that you could have accessed over night. So where did you learn that name?"

"That is for me to know, and you to never question my orders or methods. Now do you know where it is or not?"

"I believe one of your later predecessors wanted to explore it some, but he was forced to contend with some pesky heroes and was killed before he got the chance. He did send out some scouts though, and we even managed to dig out a Gate for quick travel. It was never used, but it should still function quite well."

Naruto nodded, satisfied.

"Good enough. As soon as Lee and Iruka awaken, send them to me. Anko as well."

"As you wish. Where will you be, Lord?"

"I am going to be reading through these records you mentioned. Have some of the Browns bring them to me as soon as possible."

"Very well. What are your plans for the Dark Tower, Sire? Should I have the Browns continue to fix the place up?"

"No. Don't bother."

"Then what do you plan to do with it?"

Naruto's eyes hinted at an inner darkness, and the corner of his mouth quirked upward.

"I'm not going to use it, but I don't want anyone else getting their grimy hands on it now, do I? Do we currently have any high yield explosives in stock?"

Gnarl returned the look and chuckled, though there was obviously some bit of regret. Obviously he wasn't too fond of the idea of destroying the home of his Masters. Still, Naruto was the new Overlord and as such, his word was law.

"I'm sure we could find something to suffice. Are we going to save the artifacts and library, Sire?"

"Of course. Have the Browns gather anything that will be useful to us and prepare them for travel. I want this place stripped down and ready to be leveled by the end of the day. Understood?"

"As you command, Sire. What will you be needing your companions for?"

Naruto stood from his place and cracked his neck.

"You said you had an open gate near this 'R'lyeh'? I will take Iruka, Anko, and Lee and go check it out. No sense in traveling out there only to find it to be unsuitable for our needs."

The young aspiring Overlord walked past a trio of Browns fighting over a jester's cap and rod and descended into a staircase that led into the only place in the Tower that was in a relatively intact state. The library.

Lee and Anko, led by Iruka, brushed away layers of cobwebs and did what they could to avoid breathing the layers of dust and filth that had somehow accumulated in the lower level, despite the presence of countless Minions over the decades. Their guide didn't seem to have the same reservations about the atmosphere though, and the only pause it made was to snatch a large spider off the stone wall and stuff it in its mouth greedily.

Their journey was short, and they found Naruto hunched over a table with a couple of books open before him, turned to various pages with markers for his place. The school teacher leaned over Naruto's shoulder to read what he could, but he was unable to make sense of most of it. In fact, the manner in which the characters were written made his eyes hurt and his stomach twist. One line caught his eye though, and when he payed attention he noticed that it was repeated in the other book as well, all circled to make it stand out better.

_Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn._

"In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming." Iruka jerked in surprise when Naruto spoke up. "As close to a translation as anyone has been able to make out, I guess."

. "And just who is this Cthulhu? I've never heard of him."

Naruto looked over at his classmate and shrugged before rubbing his eyes.

"I don't know. No one does, really. It is important though, and if I am correct, he will be an extremely important ally."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say, Gaki. So the hunched over thing told us you wanted to see us?"

The blond slammed the book shut, throwing up a plume of dust, and tossed it over his shoulder in the direction of a Brown who was in the process of carrying an expensive looking vase. The gremlin-like creature did its best to catch the book and juggle the two objects, and with a surprising show of dexterity managed to hold them both without dropping either, though it didn't look like it was going anywhere any time soon.

"That's correct. Tell me, what do you think of the Tower?"

Iruka rubbed his neck, unsure of how to put it without sounding too degrading.

"Well, its definitely a fixer-upper. Has a lot of potential though." Lee followed his example as best he could.

"You can definitely tell there is a lot of history in this place. It has strong walls and seems to have a decent foundation. With some work, it can become something pretty impressive." Anko didn't share any of the same inhibitions.

"I'm not gonna lie brat. This place sucks."

"Exactly."

"...huh?"

"This place is a total shit heap." Naruto spread his arms wide to indicate their surroundings. "The walls are falling down, the fabrics are rotten and falling to pieces. I'm surprised the ceiling didn't fall in on us and kill us while we were asleep."

"Okay, Naruto-kun you have a point. But what do you mean we are taking road trip? Where are we going?"

Naruto patted him on the shoulder on the way past.

"We're going to investigate a rumor about a more suitable base of operations. I refuse to lead from a fortress that has already fallen to the enemy."

"Naruto, if you ever say that again, I'm going to back to Konoha."

Anko nodded in silent agreement with Iruka as she trailed behind the others. Any other questions were either laughed off or ignored entirely as they returned to ground level and stood next to the shallow pool of glowing water. The Minion Master was already in front of it, waving his stick back and forth and muttering to himself. The pool of water showed not the reflection of the ceiling or the gathered humans, but of bizarre places they had never seen before. A flowery and grassy field, snow peaked mountains with clouds of vapor hanging at eye-level, even an overgrown forest with massive trees.

"Gnarl, what all is this?"

The Minion Master didn't look up from his work, though he dared not ignore his new and noticeably unforgiving master.

"This is the transportation system of the Tower, once fully activated. Once you take control of your power you will, or would have, used the Reflecting Pool to choose the location of any activated Tower Gates in the world and use them to teleport yourself directly there, instead of trekking through miles and miles of overgrowth and civilizations. One doesn't become Evil for the sake of backpacking, after all!"

"Damn straight. So if it is that easy, why is it taking you so long to find this place?"

"Well the Reflecting Pool works best with places you have been to before and can visually recognize it. As it is, its been veritable _centuries_ since I have looked at this place, so it's taking me a minute to remember what it looks like." He heard the telltale signs of hidden snickering and he glared at the three humans he wasn't bound to servitude towards. "I'm not old, dammit!"

"I believe you, Gnarl-san. Don't work yourself up too much, you might throw your back out."

The two adults laughed at Lee's joke while Naruto rolled his eyes and Gnarl fumed in outrage, but didn't retaliate. Instead he focused solely on his work, and his efforts paid off a few minutes later.

"Found it!"

Apparently 'it' was exactly what it was described to be. A city of ruins sticking up and out of some unnamed ocean. What hadn't been in the records however, was the inhuman air to it. And they weren't even _there!_ Just looking at the damn place gave them all shivers, except for Gnarl who was used to things of such an evil magnitude, and Naruto who was shivering for an entirely different reason.

"Excellent. I was worried we might end up having to trek all the way there after all. That would have sucked. The question is, where is it exactly?"

Gnarl scratched his chin in thought.

"That's a good question. This area is both farther north than 'Tsuchi no kuni' and farther east than 'Kaminari no kuni'. Basically, it is on the other side of the world. If we were to travel directly north until we arrived, we would have to go through the polar cap."

Naruto nodded and his eyes were focused on something far away.

"Well its a good thing we aren't walking there on foot now, isn't it? Now that I think about it, we aren't taught much in the Academy on the geography outside of the Elemental Countries. There has to be more to the world than just that though, doesn't there?"

"Yes this is very true. In fact, very little is known about the world outside of the major continent and the countries that it has been divided into. Years ago, Shinobi teams were sent out from all of the Hidden Villages in an attempt to establish land before any of the others. Very few of those parties ever returned though. Whatever is out there, it is far more dangerous than even highly trained Shinobi." Iruka swallowed hard after his lecture. "Are we sure we really want to go out there? We will _literally _be out in the dark."

Lee grinned cockily and slapped his teacher on the shoulder.

"Oh come on, Sensei! You always said you wanted to be a pioneer, right?"

"What? No! I wanted to be a teac-..."

"Exactly! Then I say we go to these new lands, and see sights no living man has seen before!"

"Lee, there is a _reason_ no living man has seen them." Iruka was ignored.

Naruto smiled out of the corner of his mouth.

"Then its decided. Hey Gnarl, any ideas on what might be waiting out there for us?"

"The basics, I suppose. Animals untouched by human influence and thus allowed to grow to gargantuan sizes. Ancient and inhuman cultural civilizations based around hunting, slaughter, and blood sacrifice to their heathen gods. Terrain unscouted with countless death traps just waiting to lure us to our deaths?"

Anko flashed her own blood-lust smile.

"That's what they said about the Forest of Death as well, but I made that place my bitch. I say we do this thing!"

The group of humans shared a look, and Iruka groaned loudly and commented about how he knew he was going to regret this before nodding along.

Gnarl lifted his stick, and the pool began to glow. The entire group felt that surge of energy from before, and they each braced themselves this time.

"Well then, I'll see that the Minions have everything packed and ready to go for when you get back. If you get back."

As the group vanished into sparks, they all decided to pretend they didn't hear that last part.

**XxXxXxX**

**- R'lyeh: The Sunken City****-**

The landing was much easier on all of them this time, and it barely took them any recovery time before they began taking in the sights. Lee, to no one's great surprise, was the first one to make his opinion known.

"This is much creepier than the ad suggested. I want to speak to my realtor."

The only response was Anko's snort of amusement, but no other words were wasted as they analyzed their new environment. The only real way to describe it was... wrong. The sky was an unnatural yellowish tint, contrasted heavily with the gray-green waters that surrounded them. The air was deathly silent, and there was no hint of life. It was as though they were the first living being to set foot in such an accursed area in centuries.

Semi-intact buildings in various levels of structural decay poked out of the waters, reaching heavenward in a fruitless attempt to escape from the waters that had long since dragged them down below the murky depths. A few remained strangely untouched by the ravaging tendrils of time, however. In the center of the waters was a massive spire, even taller and larger in girth than the Dark Tower itself was. Around it was a ring-like wall, wide enough for an army to stand upon and spread along it were staircases, leading down below the water's level. Curiously, it suggested that there was more to this 'city' than what they could see immediately. The tip of the iceberg, really.

"Doesn't look like much of a city to me."

"Yeah, but twenty bucks says the rest is down... there."

"Cut the chatter. We came here with a job to do, so let's do it. I don't particularly want to get stuck out here unprepared when the sun sets."

"But Naruto-kun, it was morning at the Tower. If we are on the other side of the world like Gnarl-san said, shouldn't it be night already?"

"Lee, natural law also demands the sky be blue, water clear, and something like this _not_ be creepy as shit. I don't think the laws apply any more."

"Short stuff has a point. I say we get this over and done with. Maybe things will be nicer once we get some more fighters out here."

Iruka cocked an eyebrow at the fabled snake mistress of Konoha.

"Scared, Anko?"

"More than you know. I feel like there's something in this water... watching us."

Her statement put him on edge pretty badly, but not as badly as Naruto's answer.

"There is. Let's go. We need to split up and cover ground faster."

"Oh no we don't! I don't want to be by myself when the walls start to bleed!"

Naruto rolled his eyes at Lee's behavior.

"Not alone, numbnuts. In teams of two. I'll go with Anko. You go with Iruka. We'll meet back here in two hours and then we'll head back to the Tower, okay?"

The three others shared a thought about the youngest of their group giving the orders, but none of them felt any overwhelming urge to call him on it. This was his thing after all. They were just along for the ride. If they had known where they were going to end up though, they might have changed their tune before they even left Konoha. Still, it was too late to go home now.

They split into the two teams and went their separate ways to cover as much ground as they could. Lee and Iruka were going to check out the staircase leading below the waters, and the other two were going to check out the massive tower in the center of the lake. Neither were sure who were the lucky ones. They just hoped with everything they had that they would be around to laugh about it at the end of the day.

* * *

_A/N : I'm not even going to bother trying to lie about this one. This took a lot longer to write than most chapters will, but for very good reason. I understand that I am taking a massive risk here with the elements I am incorporating, but I just couldn't help myself. Of all the fics I have read and enjoyed, only one has even _hinted_ at the Lovecraftian Mythos. Well this needs to be remedied, in my opinion. Maybe it will go over really well, maybe not. I just know I am going to have a lot of fun with it._

_My sincerest thanks to toxinvictoria for his review and ideas. He was actually the prime inspiration for the new track this work is going to be taking._

_As always,I hope you enjoyed and feel free to let me know what you think. If enough people show their support, I might even add a free taco bar. _

_Say Frosty...  
- Nikolai_


	4. Masters, Premonitions

**Ch. 4 : Masters, Premonitions**

_A/N : It's not what you all voted for, but I felt like it anyway._

Disclaimer : I do not own Naruto, Overlord, or any obscure references to other owned or written material, either official or those of fandom. They are all property of associated parties.

* * *

**- With Iruka and Lee -**

"Iruka-sensei, why are we splitting up in the creepy city?"

"Because the more ground we cover, the faster we can get out of here."

"Ah, I see..."

Judging by the uncertainty in his tone, the young boy did _not_ see the logic, but was just glad to not be entirely alone. and he was with Iruka as well. The only other person he would rather be with was Naruto himself. He caught himself toying with the spiked knuckles he kept in his back pocket, and he forced himself to stop. He was a ninja dammit, and he wasn't going to be scared by some spooky atmosphere.

With a hard swallow, Lee straightened his shoulders and started examining his surroundings in more detail. The staircase they had descended had seemed to go on forever, and they had to be far below the surface, though it was impossible to tell if the walls were still surrounded by water or not. Then again, he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to know to be honest. The idea of only a layer of stone standing between them and the acidic green waters of the lake really made him uncomfortable. Imagine that...

Finally the stairway leveled out and led into a massive hallway. Tall enough for five men to stand on top of each other, and still not be able to touch the ceiling, and wide enough for his graduating class to walk side by side. The stone was cut at odd angles and was perfectly smooth in a way that no person could have been able to reproduce. The sight filled him with unease, and he idly wondered what could have made such a thing. And how big must they have been to need this much space? The only sounds were those of Iruka and himself, and the drips of moisture falling to the cold stone ground. The air was chilly and damp, and their breath formed clouds before them.

Something skittered in the darkness at the other end of the hallway, and both the humans became still immediately, straining their eyes to try and penetrate the inky blackness. For a few breathless minutes they held their position, not even letting themselves shift, before relaxing. Must have just been a rat or something. Nothing to worry about.

"Fool-fool! What if the man-things had seen us? Then we would be in trouble!" His voice was raspy and slightly muffled through the breathing apparatus that covered his face. Still, it was meant to protect him from his own brutal weapons, and it was effective at keeping the vicious gas away, so it would stay. The speaker's companion shoved him roughly in response.

"It not my fault! Stupid slave-things can't even walk right! Not worth the trouble."

The second speaker looked over the troops under his command in disgust. Each stood barely over three feet tall with a short sword in one hand, and a pitiful mockery of armor adorning their haired bodies. Behind them waved a hairless tail, and their noses and whiskers flickered in the air, trying to smell what they couldn't see.

"Well then leave them here! We must-needs find the intruders and kill-kill them! Grey Seer will be most angry if they learn of our existence."

Either the hunched over rat-men didn't hear their leaders talking about them, or they were just so used to it it didn't matter to them. Either way, they ignored the conversation going on around them and clawed at their environment, trying to find something of value.

"Yes-yes, they are no use to us now anyway." The larger beast turned to those under his command and spoke with obvious disdain. "You are to staying here. Don't move, just be quiet. Try not to die-die."

The rat-men nodded in understanding, and scattered to find a more suitable hiding place. The middle of the hallway was far too open for their taste, and they weren't going to stand around if they didn't have to. The two remaining figures looked at each other and snorted in disgust. Good help was hard to find.

"Come-come. Let's get them before they find anything of value."

The two figures followed silently behind the man-things that dared to intrude on their land. Once they were dead, they would be rewarded with much warpstone, so the sooner they finished the better. Now if only there was a way to get rid of the other partner, yes-yes...

The innocent duo continued throughout the damp and dark tunnels that lay beneath the waters of R'yleh, unaware of the foul proceedings behind them. After what seemed like an eternity, their night vision had become somewhat accustomed to the darkness. Still it seemed like there was darkness that their eyes were incapable of piercing. Rather than just the absence`1 of light, the blackness was something tangible that, if touched, would leave a residue on their bare skin.

"Alright," Iruka said, finally getting tired of shuffling slowly through the darkness. "See if you can find a torch. If not just any stick will work, this is bullshit."

"Yes, Iruka-Sensei."

The two of them had a quick change of objectives and before long their search bore fruit. Along the stone walls, spaced periodically, were sconces with the torches still in their holders. Iruka took one from its place and gritted his teeth at the shrill scraping sound of metal on metal that followed. The two of them jumped back in fear as the wall just to the right of the sconce slid back about a foot, and to one side to reveal a hidden passageway.

"Huh... I didn't know people actually made stuff like that."

Iruka nodded in agreement and lit the torch using an Academy ranked fire technique. It took a few tries, because of how damp the material was but eventually it burst into flame, illuminating their immediate surroundings. Over to their right, something hissed quietly in pain at the sudden light and slunk back into the shadows. After Lee had used Iruka's torch to light his own, they ducked their head into the passageway and continued on their way.

Unbeknownst to them, the two rat-men continued to follow them, biding their time until the perfect moment to strike.

**- With Naruto and Anko -**

"It's just a day, like any other day. A beautiful day for an accident, let's say. Yes it's just a day, like any other day. Just one step closer to the end of the buffet. La la la la la la la la la la, 'cause we're waiting to die."

"Anko, what the hell are you doing?"

Anko glanced over to him as they climbed the stairs, examining what details they could with the aid of the sparse illumination provided by the windows. The stairway was surprisingly narrow, considering the size of the main hall and doors. The cold stone was damp with moisture, and there was moss clinging to the stone.

"Singing."

A boot knocked a rock loose from its precarious perch, and it bounced down the stairs, down the way they had come. The sound echoed for a while before falling silent once more. The stench of stale air and stagnant water hadn't left them since their arrival, and it was almost as if their minds were refusing to move past it. The assault on their senses proved just another reminder that they weren't supposed to be here.

"I know you're singing. Why are you doing it?"

"Because unlike you, gaki, the silence drives me crazy." Naruto cast her a surprisingly understanding look.

"Alright, if it makes you feel better than go for it."

"What? Really?" This time the smirk was impossible to miss.

"Sure. I doubt the rest of us would manage to survive if you got even crazier on us."

"Oh fuck you, brat. I'll remember that when we get out of here and I have you tied upside down from a chandelier."

They continued for a ways, with Anko whistling the same cheerful tune to herself without the words. Movement from farther up the stairs cut them both off, and they drew a knife slowly. Anko took the lead now, given her vastly greater training and experience. Her steps were short and steady, and they made less noise than a whisper as she padded upward. The spiral shape of the staircase made it maddening to see what was up ahead, but she did what she could. Before long though, she stopped and clutched her head suddenly.

"Anko?" Naruto said, all mocking having drained away. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, just... a headache. Came on fast. I don't... get it."

A sneaking suspicion made itself known, and Naruto decided to roll with it.

"Try going a few feet down the stairs."

Anko nodded and shifted her weight down the spiral some, leaning heavily on the wall and relying on the cold stone to support her. Even after the first step the strain left her shoulders, and it was obvious she was feeling better.

"Whew, that was insane. I don't know what came over me."

"Well, try going up the stairs again. I want to see something."

Anko gave him a strange look, but complied. No sooner had she gotten to where she had last time, she hunched over again and this time a juicy gasp escaped her as she stopped herself from screaming. She immediately fled back down the stairs, and this time the pain didn't leave as quickly.

"Shit!" She hissed. "I don't get it. It's like I'm not allowed to go up there. Are you seriously not feeling this?"

Naruto shook his head. Other than a light warmth from the scar on his chest, he wasn't feeling a whole lot of anything. Still, he had a feeling what this had to do with and if he was right, he had to go on.

"I'm going to go on ahead. You wait as far up as you are comfortable and make sure nothing gets up behind me, okay?"

Anko grumbled to herself about brats giving her orders and not coming for his body if he died, but nodded and eased her way down a few more steps until the pressure laid off. She was disgusted by the sign of weakness, but putting herself in unnecessary pain was pointless.

Naruto turned away from the woman and continued up the stairwell, feeling ahead as much as he could with his senses. Whatever was up here was selective on who came close to it, but apparently Naruto had been chosen as today's lucky winner. Each footstep kicked up a small plume of dust, proving that no one had used this staircase in decades, at least. With each step the warmth in his chest grew and he had the distinct impression that he was no longer alone. There was something at the top of the tower, and it was waiting for him.

He rolled his eyes at his own cowardice and straightened his shoulders, determined not to be intimidated by whatever he was about to come face to face to. His resolve lasted until the staircase ended and opened up into a wide and circular chamber. The windows were covered by thick, dark drapes and the room was illuminated by a set of flickering sconces along the rounded walls, spaced out in even intervals. His eyes panned across the room, taking in the details and trying to determine the source of the obscene atmosphere, and when they stopped on a certain point on the opposite wall, he felt his skin begin to crawl. For the first time in a long time, he felt he might have made a terrible mistake.

**- With Iruka and Lee -**

Iruka's breath caught in his throat as he stared at the beautiful artwork that was painstakingly carved into the rock around them. Along both walls of the corridor, stretching far past the feeble light put off by their torches, murals reached from floor to the ceiling. Each scene depicted different characters and settings, though there were recurrent themes that connected them all. Every picture focused on a single figure, invariably male, who towered over those around him. His shoulders were broad, his face cloaked in shadows, and they wore long clothes that reached from their shoulders to their ankles, trailing just above the ground. At their feet were hunched over goblin-like creatures with glowing yellow eyes, a detail they shared with their masters. Over their shoulders hovered a pair of serpentine heads and necks that originated from somewhere behind him. Their eyes too glowed in the darkness, and they seemed to feel perfectly at home in the black surrounding them.

"Woah..." Lee gasped quietly as he looked around, straining his neck to gaze higher and higher. "What are they?"

Iruka didn't so much ignore the question as not hear it to begin with. His entire focus was on deciphering the meaning of the pictures. Beneath every mural was a carved out plaque that bore a name, and every name had one more thing in common. The family they belonged to.

The dolphin stumbled through the darkness without watching where he was going. He was so totally enraptured, he completely missed an orb whizzing past his head and shattering somewhere down the hallway. The same could not be said for his young companion.

"What was that?" Lee yelped, whirling around and straining his eyes to see down the darkened hallway where the breaking noise came from. When Iruka didn't answer, he turned around again and probed forward with his torch, hoping the light would reveal whatever had just thrown the thing. "Who's there?"

Concealed in shadow, two figures argued as quietly as they could.

"Fool! How did you miss?"

"Not my fault! Man-thing move!"

"Who's there?"

The hunched over figures froze as the small green human approached cautiously, with shaky steps. The only sound came from the respirators they wore in order to protect themselves from the cruel weapons they carried. When Lee was finally close enough to practically throw his torch and hit them with it, they turned and fled down the hallway, back the way they came. Their scampering startled Lee so badly, he dropped the torch on the ground and ran back to Iruka's side, doing his best not to scream.

"IRUKA! WE'RE NOT ALONE!"

Lee's hysterical shout shook him out of his stupor, and he spun around quickly, catching Lee in his arms as the two collided. The impact almost took Iruka to the ground, and he had to hold the torch away from his body to prevent him from accidently lighting himself or Lee on fire. The echoes of the boy's shout filled their ears, and spoke of the practically endless depths of the chasm that lay before them.

"Lee! Calm down, and tell me what's wrong."

Lee drew in deep shuddering breaths and tried to calm himself. He knew he looked like a baby, but he couldn't help it. It was terrifying down here, and now there were things following them and throwing things at them!

"The-there was something there! I don't know what it was, but it threw something at you and when I go-got close to seeing what it was it ran away on four feet, like a rat or something."

Iruka rubbed his back soothingly and kept his eyes on the flickering borders of light. He didn't know what Lee had seen, but this was the first time he had ever seen the boy so scared, so it must have been something. After all, the boy had never been one to jump at his own shadow. Where the boy had been standing, the torch lay on the cold stone, illuminating it with a flickering halo. More of an illumination for itself than its surroundings.

"It's alright. Whatever it was, it's gone now."

When the boy had finally calmed down enough to walk, he led him over to where he had dropped his torch. When he bent to pick it up, something rolled out of the shadows and toward his foot, stopping as it pressed against his shoe.

"What the hell?" He muttered quietly to himself.

"I don't think you should touch it. Whatever it is, it came from... _them_."

The word was laced with terror, but in order to know what they were dealing with, they had to check it out. The globe was surprisingly warm to the touch, as though it had been pressing against warm flesh only seconds ago. It was made out of a clear glass, and inside it swirling angrily as though trying to escape its bonds, was a noxious green gas.

**- With Anko -**

Anko sat facing down the stairwell with her chin propped in a hand, and flipping a kunai in the other. Catching it by the handle. Flipping it again. Catching it by the blade. Again, handle. Again, blade.

"Urgh. What's taking him so long? This waiting is driving me crazy!"

She huffed quietly and purposely closed her mouth. Talking to herself wasn't going to do any good. It went against every moral she had, of the few she did have, to let the antisocial blond go alone. But it wasn't like she had a choice, right? Every time she even thought about following him the headache would return with a vengeance and leave her cradling her head. It would then stay until she inched her way down another couple of steps, as though whatever was causing it wanted her as far away as possible. Still, it was her job to make sure nothing came up from behin-

Her thoughts cut off once more, and she cradled her head, cursing in misery as fresh waves of agony rolled through her. They were far more intense than any of the previous ones had been, and she tasted blood long before she realized she had started biting her tongue. This was the worst pain she had experienced ever since her bastard of a Sensei had 'gifted' her with the cursed seal. As she sat, rather than balancing out or easing slowly it only intensified. She had no choice but to retreat even farther down the stairs, and it felt like two miles and an eternity before the pain finally let off. The relief was so gratifying that she was content to just lay on her back, gasping for breath with a cheek pressed into the cold stone.

When she got her breath back, she was surprised that she had retreated to a leveled out section of the stairway that she didn't recall passing on the way up. The floor was flat for about six or seven feet before the stairs resumed, and a window was set into the wall, bathing the opposite wall, and doorway, in the sickening yellow light.

"Huh... That's new."

Anko stared at the doorway strangely, confused by its shape and geometry. She couldn't say why exactly, nor put her finger on what made her feel that way, but there was something... off... about the door. The angles were close to what she was used to, but different in a way that had nothing to do with aesthetic differences between cultures. Carved into its face was a set of markings that she could only assume was the alphabet of whatever twisted race could have built such a city, and it was probably the key to whatever was behind that door.

She glanced over her shoulder up the stairs, in the direction that Naruto had taken, and clicked her tongue. Sure she was supposed to be watching the stairs, but whatever had caused her headache would probably do the same for whatever else tried to go up the stairs, right? And there hadn't been anyone up there in ages, judging by the dust on every step. Besides, she really wanted to know what was behind the door.

After some careful consideration and some creative problem solving, she knelt by the stone brick under the window at about knee height and jabbed her kunai into the mortar filling a considerable gap between stones. There was resistance at first, but she managed to wedge the blade far enough inward that it wasn't coming out without some forceful persuasion. With practiced precision, she tied an extremely thin wire in the loop at the end of the handle and pulled it tight. She did the same to the other side of the staircase and tied the two together, jury rigging a trip wire that would alert her of anyone that tripped it. The shadows under the window and beside the door would ensure no one would see the kunai without knowing what they were looking for, and the wire was thin enough that even she was unable to see it in the dim light.

The snake mistress took a second to admire her handiwork before drawing another blade and pushing the door open slowly.

**- With Naruto -**

Naruto stared in horrified fascination at the mirror shaped protrusion on the opposite side of the room. It was eight feet tall and easily five wide. Instead of glass, the surface shifted and bubbled, not unlike the oil used to cook the ramen at the Ichiraku stand he enjoyed so much. The only difference was that whatever that shit was, it was much thicker and he had no intention to put it anywhere near his body. It had a tar-like substance and seemed to be alive in its animation. The moment he stepped forward into the room, it quickened, reacting to his presence. In certain spots the black material would pile up on itself, creating a finger that stretched out to touch him before it collapsed under its own weight and sank back into the depths.

**A**_pp_r**o_a_**_ch _**_a_n**d k_n_**ow y**o_u_r **Master**.

With every syllable spoken, the oil jumped and spasmed. Droplets left the confines of the container, hovering in the air for an extended moment, and yet fell back into it, defying the laws of gravity in their compulsion to retake their place. The words filled him with a dread and his stomach twisted, curling in on itself in horror. Despite the revulsion he felt in his very core, Naruto felt an intrinsic connection to the Voice filling his mind, as well as the air around him. His legs moved on their accord, and even with the tremors coursing through him, he drew closer to the mirror.

When he was as close as he could bear to be, he sank to his knees as the possessive strength that had pervaded him suddenly abandoned him. The... presence... was pleased by his proximity and the atmosphere in the room eased from its oppressive weight.

**Here** _my_ power _is_ at its **strongest.** **Only** here_ can I _influence** your _world._**

The Voice had the same consistency as the mirror before him. Flowing and changing and shifting in ways that made him want to cover his ears and close his eyes and hide in the deepest corner of the earth. The power he had felt in his dreams... it was nothing compared to this! The skin over his heart burned as though a brand had been reapplied to the scarred tissue, and he gasped as a cold sweat beaded on his brow, despite the chill in the air.

"Why have you brought me here? What do you want me to do?"

**Even Gods have patience. **_When one lives for eternity, time passes as but an instant._ But I have grown weary of my imprisonment. **_I have been content to wait for my time to come, but no more. You shall be the instrument of my return, and the herald of their destruction._**

A God. Is that what this being of infinite power was? It made sense in many ways, and from where he was. On his knees before a mere representation of its awesome and unholy might, he could not argue. Could not disagree. For to disobey... The Voice was coming to a balance. The shifting and changing was growing steadier and finding a tune that did not make his head split and strain. For that, Naruto was grateful.

"How can I release you? What must I do?"

_**There is another, like me. My half-brother. He was imprisoned with me, and with me he shall be released. Only together can we be freed, for there are rules even those such as I cannot disobey.**_

Naruto found that incredibly hard to believe. Both that there was another like his master, and that there were laws He had no choice but to follow. He held his tongue though, and allowed his master to continue.

_**Hastur is His name, though your pathetic race know him by another name.**_

A rush of words flew through Naruto's head, impossible to discern and separate. A thousand voices, all identical, spoke directly into his brain at the same time, but all saying something different. He only caught a few of the many. The King in Yellow. The Unspeakable. Him Who Is Not to be Named. Assatur. Xastur. They all bled together, and he was unsure of even his own identity as he was filled with the knowledge.

As quickly as the rush came on him, it drained away leaving but a single word. Jūbi

_**Your people, with foul magiks and their obscene arrogance, tore him to pieces and separated his power. They thought him dead, but you were wrong. We are immortal. We are timeless. There is nothing you can do to us, and for their arrogance, they shall all be destroyed. You shall gather His pieces. Your... Tailed Beasts.**_

The being spat the word with such hatred, that the pool bubbled and spat.

_**When they are rejoined, We shall be released at last, and your people shall finally know suffering.**_

Naruto swallowed hard, and his sweating got worse. He didn't want this! He may not like his father and he might hate Konoha, but the destruction of the human race? He would have to be made to want that! His breath became spiked balls, forcing its way through his throat and he was unable to breathe. Unable to swallow.

The pool before him grew calm once more, and the hatred left the Voice.

_**No. Your people will not be destroyed. They will be punished. They will be taught to fear, and to worship as they once did. But they will not be destroyed.**_

The oppressive weight lifted enough for him to collapse and support himself with his hands. There was a petty solace in that, but it would do. He had no choice but to obey. He had been placed in this position since his birth, and there was no way he could even hope to contest his birthright.

"Gather... gather the Bijuu. It will take years for me to do this, even if I am capable of it."

The being seemed... amused? At his statement. As though he were being cute in its way. The same way a yapping little dog tried to appear frightening to a doberman.

_**You are not. But I will make you. I know of your body and your limits as you do not. You will one day be strong. But first... I will break you.**_

And then... Then the screaming started.

**- With Iruka and Lee -**

It was impossible to tell how long they had been standing in hall of murals, looking over the figures and depictions of brutal carnage. After a quick inspection of the shadows to ensure that they were alone once more, Iruka had returned to looking over them with an odd attraction. As though there was something connecting him to each of the pictures.

The first was of a void like the darkness of space, with the silhouette of the dark man and his glowing yellow eyes. After that was a stout man in a protective harness, though bare chested. There was a helmet covering his head and face, though the yellow glow from his eyes leaked from behind the scant protection. He had a short curved sword in one hand and a buckler in the other, with two snake like beasts protruding from his back and tearing a man in half. Behind him was a tall monstrosity of pure black swinging a massive club, also with glowing yellow eyes.

A few down was a man with a tricorne hat, a billowing cape, and two of the hunchbacked creatures protruding from the bottom of his cloak. The roaring waves were thrown up behind him, covering both him and the deck with the salty foam of the ocean. He was standing on the side of a massive galleon with a leg propped up on the wooden side and gripping a rope tied to the deck, aiding his balance. In the background was another ship, though it was on fire and half submerged in the water and in two distinct pieces. Swimming under the water and easily keeping up with the ship was the outline of a massive shark with glowing eyes.

Another, a couple of hundred years later, was that of a young man with a rounded hat with a wide brim pulled down over his eyes, shielding his face in shadow. One hand was prodding the tip of his hat up a little bit with the barrel of the revolver in his hand. The other was holding the reins of his horse who was staring out directly at the viewer, both of their yellow eyes bored directly into your soul.

The next that caught Iruka's eye was a man about his age. He was standing in the middle of a thunderstorm, water pouring down his shoulders and from his hair. In each of the man's hands was a firearm and a dog-like monstrosity bared its teeth at the pile of bodies that surrounded him. A body was impaled on the tentacled protrusion coming from behind him, and the man could care less. In fact he was winking, showing nothing but contempt for the carnage that had been caused by his hand. Those yellow eyes seemed to be mocking you.

"Hey Iruka-Sensei, I think you should come look at this one." Iruka glanced over to see Lee standing in front of the last mural in the row, staring at it with wide eyes. Iruka walked over and his breath caught as he looked at the man standing there. It might as well have been a carbon copy, for its accuracy. "He looks a lot like you!"

The man was standing on a rocky coast, surrounded by mist. A dozen men with blades drawn stood before him in a semi-circle and behind him was a young woman, probably his wife or girlfriend. The look on his face was of grim determination and he was wearing a... Kirgakure headband.

"Iruka-Sensei... where were your parents from?"

"Well I was raised in Konoha, but my mom and dad tell me I was adopted. A... a woman from Mist came through with me in her arms. She was almost dead from the exhaustion from her trip. She died shortly after a Leaf Shinobi found her and she made him promise to take me with him when he returned. That Shinobi raised me as his own until he and my mom died in the Kyuubi attack."

"Do you think..."

Their conversation was cut off by another of the green orbs flying out of the darkness towards the duo. Iruka saw it coming from the corner of his eye and dodged it easily. He immediately started to give chase, but halted after noticing that Lee was on the ground, bleeding from the trauma to the head. The orb lay on the ground next to him, not even cracked. Iruka cursed loudly and lifted Lee carefully, trying not to aggravate the wound. He slipped the orb into a pouch on his leg and headed off into the darkness the way they came, chasing after whatever that thing was. As he ran, he couldn't help but think about the name he had read and what it meant to him. It sounded eerily familiar, like a dream forgotten. The word brought a face to mind, that of his father's when he was told of his birth father. A face with sorrow and glistening with tears as he whispered. Estacado.

**- With Anko -**

Anko's ears pricked up and she froze, listening. When she didn't hear anything else, she shrugged. She would have sworn she heard the sound of screaming. The room inside was obviously a war room and tactical center. In the center was a massive table with a map etched into its surface. It was decorated by a detailed painting of boundaries and borders that she assumed belonged to whatever people populated this half of the world, because they sure as hell weren't the Elemental Countries. The geography was all wrong. There were more islands and less major landmasses. Where their homeland was basically one huge continent, this place was a collection of large islands separated by stretches of water. Each of the boundary markings were obviously owned by a group of individuals, much like the countries back home. But what kind of people were they? That was the question.

The table was covered with small pewter figurines of strange creatures and bizarre monstrosities. Each was carefully carved by hand, and depicting great detail. Along the coastlines the figures were humanoid figures held upright by long snake-like tails. In the deep forests were beast men that stood on two feet with glowing red eyes, snarling fangs, and coarse fur. The mountains were inhabited by creatures somewhat shorter than humans, but broader in shoulder. Their features were sharp and cruel, with sunken cheeks and crooked backs and legs. Each carried a sword with a jagged edge and a suit or armor with over lapping plates and pointed corners. In the deserts were small villages populated by draconic creatures similar to the wolf-men, but more closely related to lizard than beasts.

By far though, the most heavily developed were the cities scattered throughout the lands. The inhabitants seemed to be human, which came as a surprise. Compared to the other creatures on the continents, the fact that there were other humans seemed strangely out of place. Still, a little familiarity was a good thing. The figurine was taller than any of the others, and if they were to scale with the other species then they had to stand at least six feet tall. There body was covered in a long cloak that hid there features and reached almost to the floor.

Scattered all throughout the map were dotted boundaries that she assumed meant were either rivers or something underground. Probably the latter, judging by the figures that were placed periodically atop the tunnels. Rat men, and disgusting ones at that, were standing on two legs, but were hunched over almost to the point of standing on all fours. They were probably comfortable running either way, and they had blades on their waist, held in place with belts made out of scraps of what looked like leather. The thing gave off an aura of disease and pestilence, and-...

The sound of metal scraping metal told her that her tripwire had been triggered, and she hurried back the way she had come and almost slammed into Iruka, who was running past with an unconscious Lee slung over his back. The boy was bleeding profusely from a bloody head wound, and Iruka was carrying him fireman style. Lee's hands were hanging limp and bumping against a curious circular bulge in one of Iruka's pouches.

"Shit! What the hell happened?"

"Don't worry about us. Chase after that thing!"

Iruka was pointing with his free hand up the stairs, after whatever had set off her trap. Two of the rat things were running side by side, though one was limping slightly. Probably the one that hadn't seen the wire. They were booking it though, and she had to hurry in order to keep up with them. They were both wearing heavy tanks on their backs with tubes running through to a respirator on their face, providing them with clean air which meant they were either expecting to run into poisonous fumes, or they were around them enough to always warrant the protection. A pouch dangled at their waists, full of green glass balls about the same size as both whatever Iruka had had on him, and the wound on Lee's head. She may not have been too fond of the kid herself, but he was a friend of both Naruto's and Iruka's. No one hurt her friends but her!

Anko had the advantage of not being burdened by the heavy gear, and she quickly gained ground on the rats. She found it odd that while she could still feel the atmosphere of dread that had been there earlier, she wasn't suffering from the headache that had accompanied her being this high up along the tower. The same could not be said for the rat-men though. The two started clawing at their heads and ears, and the one that was limping fell to his knees on the cold stone. Rather than help his ally, the other just ran past him and continued up the stairs. Before she could pass the one that had collapsed, the whispers that had preluded the agony warned her not to advance any more, and she stopped climbing the stairs.

"Fuck..."

She hated the idea of letting the damn thing climb up to Naruto while he was doing god knows what, but there was no way she could keep going and still be expected to fight. She cursed again, and turned back to the one that had fallen. The blond brat was just going to have to be able to take care of himself. She grabbed the bastard by the arms and wrenched them behind its back, leading it back to where Iruka and Lee were waiting. The rat was ordered up against the wall, and it obeyed silently, eager to please its captors.

Minutes later the other walked unsteadily down the steps, followed by Naruto who was breathing hard and unevenly. The boy had obviously been through quite the ordeal. His clothes were stained with sweat and his skin was pale. He had a hand outstretched and a single finger pointed at the back of the thing's head. The creature was obeying rigidly though its eyes were darting back and forth in desperation, looking for a way out.

"Stand next to your friend. Hands against the wall, spread apart. Make so much as a twitch and I will guy you like a fucking fish. Do you understand me?"

"Yes-yes!" The rat said with a raspy screech. "You no hurtie! I go, I go!"

"Naruto?" Iruka asked worriedly. "What happened?"

While before Naruto may have always put off an aura of no-nonsense, now it was downright tense. The hatred flowing off of him was almost tangible, and it left Iruka with a foul taste in his mouth. Naruto ignored him entirely, focusing everything on the his target.

"What are you? What are you doing here? Why did you attack my friends?"

"We Poisoned Wind Globadiers. We Skaven! We live under the ground, away from big-loud-things! We came looking for warpstone, that all!"

Naruto snarled and made a strange twisting motion with his outstretched hand, and the rat squealed in pain, though it remained untouched.

"Don't lie to me!" Naruto shouted in anger, his eyes blazing unnaturally, tinged with green that clashed with his natural blue.

"Please! No more! Elders order to come, so we come. We..."

It hesitated again, and Naruto made the same motion. This time he held the last hand sign, and the rat dropped to the ground like a marionette with its strings cut. It jerked and spasmed, screaming loudly as it curled into the fetal position. The sight made Iruka want to puke, and he was glad Lee wasn't awake to see this.

"Naruto! That's enough!" The boy held the sign as the rat began to screech, the lenses of its goggles fogging up from what Iruka could only assume were tears. Finally, he let it go and the rat wheezed loudly, still curled into a ball. Now Naruto turned to look at Iruka and the fires of contempt were still there.

"I'll say when its enough." He prodded the rat with his foot, prompting it to stand up again uneasily. The other rat thing was shrinking back into the shadows as much as it could, as though trying to become invisible and escape the notice of the demonic being before it. "Now I'll say it again, and this is the last time I will ask nicely. What. Are you doing here?"

"We are trying... to learn how to release... the Horned Rat."

Its words were bordering on gibberish, and hard to understand. It was twitching compulsively, and the tail of the thing thrashed back and forth weakly. Its paws curled and relaxed over and over again, a sign of the heavy psychological damage Naruto had caused with whatever he had done to the beast.

"What is this Horned Rat of yours?" When the rat on the ground before him was unable to answer, Naruto turned to the other and pointed at him. "Answer me."

"Yes-yes. The Horned Rat is our God! In the moon. He waits and watches and... p-punishes."

Naruto cocked an eyebrow. That made three different legends regarding some super powerful creature in the moon. What his Master had told him. The Shinobi legends of the Ten-Tails. And this rat god. Probably not a coincidence. And if they were after the same thing he was...

"And what if I were to tell you that I knew how to do it?"

"Impossible! Man-things no know about him."

"He is known by another name, but He is the same. I know how to release Him, and I will help you. If you agree to get your people to help me."

"Why I trust you?" He shrugged nonchalantly.

"I could always kill you now."

Iruka and Anko both stared at Naruto with wide eyes. The furry little bastard had attacked Lee and now he was making a deal with it while threatening its life? Had he gone insane? What kind of screwed up-.

"I talk to them. No promise anything, but I talk." Naruto flashed a grin that held no happiness.

"Glad you see it my way. Now get out of my sight before I decide you will just get in my way. And take this wretch with you."

The globadier helped his companion up, with much distaste, and scurried down the corridor as quickly as it could, scrambling over itself in its haste. The group watched them go and when they were gone, both Iruka and Anko turned on Naruto, but he held a hand up before they could say anything.

"I know, I know. I'll explain everything, but we have something to take care of first. We need to get back to the shore and off of this tower."

"What? Why?" Naruto was already walking down the steps, rubbing his brow as he steadied himself on the wall next to him.

"Because my Master is going to raise R'lyeh."

Two hours later, the four ninjas, Gnarl, and a host of Browns were standing on one of the docks overlooking the great lake that held the no longer sunken city. They had all borne witness to a massive tower with a city attached to the bottom rise from the sea. The only one of them that had any idea how it had happened was Naruto, and he had no intention of explaining until later. It had been a hell of a day and they were all tired from the drama.

"And with that," Naruto said. "I bid you goodnight."

He fell backward, bolt straight, and the minions behind him grunted under his weight as five of them caught him with outstretched arms. The only person to say anything, to no one's great surprise, was Lee.

"What... the hell was that?"

* * *

_A/N: _Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. Still, it was either rush it out and post it as it is or it remain unfinished for another week or two at least. Anything glazed over _will_ be addressed later on, so don't worry about it right now. Though if you have any questions I can answer, feel free to hit me up. And as a small challenge to everyone out there, I will give a cyber cookie to anyone who can guess what races I am bringing in. Leave it in a review, and shoutouts to everyone who gets it right.

Stay Frosty...  
- Nikolai


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